Carbon Fiber Concert Harps….Please soon!

[Christian Frederick]

Hi Barbara,

I read ALL the fine print in every contract I sign. I’ve refused to sign a contract with a local music contractor because she was requesting to be my exclusive agent for all Sea World / Anheiser Bush owned properties. The contract was probably illegal, but I did the gig for her without a signed contract. From what I understand, many other harpists have signed that contract.

I’ve had instrument insurance thorugh the AHS and American String Teacher’s association over the years. Check the exclusions in your policy. You may need a magnifying glass.

I’ve considered retiring on the coast, but was always afraid of moving my grand piano to a beach front condo. After the last couple of hurricane seasons, I’ll stay inland.

I wish I could afford to retire on the tiny island of Manhatten, New York! Then I would technically move to the coast…….

[David Ice]

Kreig,

I hope that’s a typo and you meant to say harp, not car…..I hope to never have to

[Christian Frederick]

Ahh… John,

My absolute favorite place on planet earth. I’ve dreamed for many decades living across the street from Balboa Park in San Diego. I would spend my senior years smelling the flowers, watching the people, having the most wonderful lunches, seeing live theatre (in several of the theatres..and smelling jet fumes under the stars in the summer), riding my bike, performing at special events, and attending the San Diego Zoo on a weekly basis.

Oh….. that is my favorte spot on this earth………….

[kreig-kitts]

Well, cars too…

Yes, it was a typo. I’m not sure how that got in there. My mind hasn’t even been on cars. Perhaps I heard something on TV while typing that slipped in.

[Tacye]

Now I have a PhD in breaking things… Carbon fibre is strong in tension, but lousy in compression; you wouldn’t, after all apply compression to any other fibre and expect it not to bend.

[unknown-user]

June,

I don’t know what happened between Rosemary and Venus.

[Tacye]

May I point out that Kimberly is the moderator and she has already asked us to stay on topic…

More or less on topic didn’t Stephanie Bennett have photos taken playing a pedal harp underwater?

[barbara-brundage]

>Check the exclusions in your policy. You may need a magnifying glass.

Hmm, I’ve been through the Goodman policy pretty darned thoroughly several years ago and through the current AHS policy and neither has such an exclusion in it that I can find. Merz Huber had lots of exclusions, including leaving instrument in car unattended, which is why I never had insurance through them.

[barbara-brundage]

>taken playing a pedal harp underwater?

Hmm this is the only one I can remember:

http://www.harpworld.com/ima.html

There were also pictures long ago of one of the Vito sisters–Elaine, I think–playing a fiberglass Linrud under water. The caption was something like “it has a lovely liquid tone.”

[sherry-lenox]

The thought didn’t even occur to me that carbon fiber would be used as any of the metal in a pedal harp. The other orchestral strings are made by substituting cf for the wood, and there’s plenty of controversy even about that. The first violinist (I think) of the Anchorage Symphony, a gentleman who has plenty to struggle with in terms of changes of everything climate wise, has done solo concerts on his Luis and Clark and praised the violin very highly.

There are at least two other companies who produce celli of cf, but neither has anything like the kind of support the L&C has garnered.
The instruments are very light and of course very sturdy.

[Briggsie B. Peawiggle]

Maria,

[bernhard-schmidt]

It is years ago, when I decided not to take part in discussions over the use of carbon in harp building. But sometimes one should examine its decisions. So, here I���m right in the middle of this thread.

First let me say that I���m very surprised and frightened about those publicly statement of customer information. I can understand from one view the emotional situation of Mr. Krasicki but I think it is not a good way to make such customer information public���.for what reason ever. There should have been a shorter way to clarify.

Now, to come back to the original posting.

Christian, maybe this could be for the beginning…it is only single pedal and the cost is only 2750 ���.

http://www.harpebudin.com/forum/topic353.html

I guess the harp to go with thru a car washing already exists.
If this is what one wants to play for what reasons ever������there is nothing on earth saying it���s wrong. It is just a wish of one customer (ore more).
On the other side there are industrial Manufactures calculating.
What I want to say, if there are enough harpists with the need of Carbon harps the manufacturer will do that. And no one will be able to change this. At least not by blaming or dislike such harps.
Each person with the wish to have such a Carbon harp can not be forced to go an other route just because one thinks the other route is the right one.
Or even better, it is impossible to discuss things like sound. This is only possible at a very, very secured environment where each person is really taken very seriously.

The most important question for me is whether one may steal the experience of others.

I had the possibility just a week ago to listen to a lever harp with a sound box entirely made of carbon. As you expect���..the sound is different, yes it is lighter in weight, yes, and it is louder. The advertisement says:

[J P]

I’m sorry but if Kim Rowe is the moderator she seriously needs to do a better job of moderating these forums. Asking people to stay on topic nicely doesn’t seem to get the job done. Perhaps if she enforced it with temporary bans from the website? The first person I would start with is Denise Krasicki. Airing someone’s business for all to see on a public forum is not the way to go. Denise dear, karma is a terrible thing and it will surely come back to you ten fold!

JP

[laurie-rasmussen]

JP, why is it that you suggest banning Denise K. for being truthful about her experience but it’s OK for Rosemary O’Carroll to use every opportunity to make snide remarks about Venus Harps?

And Maria, I don’t think Denise was suggesting that we all stop discussing this point, I think she was saying that she herself was not interested in discussing it anymore. She may have gone over the top in her response but it’s understandable after the abuse Rosemary has been heaping on during the last few months.

None of us knows the details of what went on between Rosemary and Venus Harps but I will say that as a reader of this forum I got very tired of Rosemary’s bashing, on several threads, of a company that she felt had wronged her and it was easy enough to understand she was referring to Venus. Rosemary, I’m very sorry for your frustration over this purchase but if you felt wronged, there are more constructive ways to deal with it than constantly dropping indirect hints and nasty comments. If this was your method of dealing with Venus about the problem then I can understand why Denise lost her cool with you.

I myself purchased a very expensive pedal harp last year, not a Venus, and there were some problems with that instrument that took quite a while (nearly a year) to straighten out. I felt exasperated many times during that process but I did not spew nasty comments about them on the Harpcolumn forum as it would have accomplished nothing good. I maintained a communicative and cooperative relationship with the manufacturer, in the end the problem was rectified and I’m extremely happy with the harp.

We’re all human and imperfect, and that includes harpmakers. But I really don’t believe that ANY harpmaker who’s been in business for over 30 years would say to themselves, “Oops, this harp is a real dog. Let’s foist it off on somebody far away” or, to quote Rosemary, “near enough is good enough for the injured gal in Tasmania.” If Rosemary had been making all these mean comments about ME on this public forum I think I would have shot back much sooner than Denise did.

I don’t currently own a Venus but the ones I’ve had the opportunity to play and hear were gorgeous-sounding instruments and I’d love to have one. The Venus owners I know are thrilled with their harps and also with the personal service they receive from the Krasickis. I realise everybody is different but my own experience with Venus over the years by phone and meeting them at conferences and at their factory has only been extremely positive and I find them to be professional, passionate about what they do and quite helpful.

I feel the need to put in my two cents because this whole discussion seems to have become an attack on Venus and it doesn’t seem right. Can we all try to be more positive and respectful of each other? Please?

[laurie-rasmussen]

In praise of carbon fiber…

I have owned a Camac Aziliz lever harp for eight years. The soundboard has a very thin layer of carbon fiber sandwiched between two layers of spruce and it’s strung with Savarez fluorocarbon strings. The tuning is extremely stable, the sound is very clear and big for a small-bodied harp and it’s light-weight and easy to transport. I bought this harp specifically for touring and knowing that it would take some hard knocks. It has traveled untold miles by train, plane, automobile, bus, ferry boat and even on a tractor once. It has been wheeled on a cart over many kilometers of cobblestones. It’s been lost for days at the Paris airport on two occasions and then returned. It’s still a great-sounding and solid little harp, not muddy or boomy.

I have a Camac Atlantide concert grand that has an inner string rib that appears to made of carbon fiber although the soundboard material is cedar rather than spruce. The cedar gives a warmth to the tone that I preferred over the spruce and I imagine the cf string rib gives strength and resilience without adding a lot of mass. The tone is even across the range, there is a real clarity in the mid and bass range where some other harps can be muddy and I think it’s an awesome-sounding harp that is also very responsive to play. The carbon fiber column is strong and light – the harp weighs around 75 pounds total.

I have a few other harps by different makers that are all wood, no cf, and I love them all. I applaud the folks who are experimenting with modern technology and materials in an attempt to make my life as a harpist easier and more enjoyable.

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