Are Venus Harps as good as Lyon & Healy?

[Briggsie B. Peawiggle]

Yes they do, Rosemary. They have a 30-day, no-questions-asked guarantee. That alone makes it worth dealing with them. They are good people….honest and fair.

June

[unknown-user]

To all that have read my post from 9/15/02:

I greatly apologize to all readers and especially Venus Harps for my post in 2002.

[Denise Krasicki]

Andrea

It was a bit of a shock

[unknown-user]

My wife (a lifelong musician just learning to play the harp) is searching for a harp to purchase – hopefully a one-time experience – and I have assisted in reviewing materials posted on the web, manufacturer websites, and dealers.

[catherine-rogers]

There are many analogies between harps and cars: they’re expensive investments from which you get the best value if you take good care of them, meaning proactive care. They don’t appreciate with age, just inflation. You generally get what you pay for, and sometimes you get a real deal. First-time buyers benefit from advice from experienced users but ultimately you have to weigh the information and make your own decision.

That being said, I think it would be a bad idea to ask people about harps that had to be returned. Those kinds of comments make bad feelings and are not helpful. I believe returned harps are very rare and I’ll guess in most cases it was for a reason (usually cosmetic) that was rectified, after which the buyer kept the instrument or chose another harp from the same company.

Harps don’t get “recalled” like autos; being almost completely handmade, there’s a lot more quality control than with mass production cars. Pedal harps have a five year warranty and many manufacturers will also give you a free first year regulation which should address any adjustments resulting from “settling in,” for lack of a better phrase. The major harp companies want you to be satisfied because happy customers are their best advertisement, and I think you’ll find they’ll do almost anything (within reason!) to keep you happy.

If you are wary of buying a new instrument, perhaps you should consider a used harp (often a good value) which has been regularly maintained. The harp technicians often keep records of the harps they service and can give you an honest and informed appraisal of instruments they’ve worked on.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

What is probably significant is what the return policy is. Can you return a harp merely because it is not quite what you were looking for? And what time period are you allowed to do this in?

[Bonnie Shaljean]

Would it be possible to start a new thread on the latest question, with a more neutral heading, and transfer/copy the above December posts into it?

[carl-swanson]

I don’t know of any harp maker anywhere that will take back an instrument just because ‘it’s not quite what you were looking for.” If they take it back, it’s because, for whatever reason, there are serious problems with it and the client does not want to continue with that instrument. In virtually all cases, a returned instrument will be exchanged for another. I have never heard of refunds for a returned instrument.

If you have very specific ideas about what you are looking for, then you need to go to a showroom and try out the harp you are thinking of buying. That way you know exactly what you are getting.

I will tell you from years of experience as a traveling regulator, repairman, rebuilder, and harp maker, that almost every harpist has their own concept of what they consider to be a good instrument, and most of them think that every other harpist has the same concept. They think that an instrument that they consider good will be thought of in the same way by everyone else. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!! For this reason, I don’t think there should be any discussion about what people think about this or that maker, model, or instrument. Personal taste varies way too much for the information to have any real meaning. I’ve regulated instruments that sounded to me like banjos, but the owners loved them, and who am I to tell them they are wrong. If you are hunting for a harp, new or used, then go look at the instrument yourself and play it BEFORE you buy it. That’s the best guarantee that you will like what you bought.

[unknown-user]

Hello All!!!!

[unknown-user]

I think it is Virginia harp center that has a return policy, if you do not like a harp they send you. If you buy unseen and not like it, you have 30 days

[unknown-user]

Hmmmm…so I suppose if we harpists cannot talk about harps on the harp column anymore, we will have to talk about something else…Columns? That way it could be the Column Column!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I prefer corinthian columns to Doric or Ionic, but that is just my preference (where are those architecture students when you need them?)

Teasing dreadfully!

Curls.

[Evangeline Williams]

When I was young and in my pre-internet days, I was going to Brasil for a few months and wanted a harp to take with me.

[GEORGEHarp Technician FLORES]

HI, I am a True professional pedal Harp Technician. I live in Chicago Il, U.S.A.
I have been a Harp Master sense 1998. I have worked with the best Harpist from all over the world…
I began working and at the age of 9 years old and have done many things in my life to help fine tune my skill, to eventually find my way to working for Lyon & Healy in my home town of Chicago.
I studied the harp under the best in the business Peter Whiley. and became a Road Technician for L & H for a few years, finally finding my way to Venus Harps. I later became a independent Technician.

I WANT TO GO ON RECORD AND SAY I HAVE WORKED ON MANY MAKES AND MODELS OF HARPS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.
AND YES “L&H” IS STILL THE BEST.
HOWEVER, THE BEST HARP FOR THE MONEY IS BY FAR A “VENUS”.
THE QUALITY AND CRAFTSMANSHIP ARE VERY CLOSE.
THE TONE AND OVER ALL SOUND IS WONDERFUL ALSO VERY CLOSE,
BUT AS ANY TRUE HARPIST KNOWS. EVERY HARP HAS A SOUND OF ITS OWN.. AND “VENUS” IS NO DIFFERENT.
TO REALLY DECIDE FOR YOURELF YOU NEED TO PLAY BOTH, AND FIND THE TONE AND PRICE THAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU.
George Flores

[unknown-user]

Wow.

[john-strand]

Arianna – with all due respect, I don’t

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