Cars & Transportation

[tracey-kjonegaard]

This may turn into kind of a goofy/story telling thread but I’m kind of curious about how you guys have transported your harps around and/or if you have any interesting stories? Or what kind of harp you have and what kind of vehicle do you transport it in?

I just rented a L&H Ogden and I drive an ’07 4 door Cobalt. When the people at L&H brought it out to my car, it just BARELY fit in it. I do have a very spacious trunk but even with the back seats folded down, it wouldn’t fit. Maybe if I had another inch or so to spare it would’ve but they ended up laying it across the back seat. Kind of bums me out because I’m already thinking if harp is something I want to pursue after my rental period, I would like to invest in maybe something like a 38 string Salvi Titan but I don’t know that I would be able to transport it :/

When it comes down to it, have any of you ever had to choose a harp based on your car? Seems kind of dumb but when you end up paying as much for an instrument as a down payment on a car (or for some of you, maybe the same price or more, as a car) you’ve got to choose whats going to give…the car or the harp?

[barbara-brundage]

Most of us do it the other way around–choose a car based on the harp. If you do a google search of this site for harpmobile you should find many car threads.

[kreig-kitts]

I chose my first harp based on the car I already had. I was getting a lever aro and wanted to make sure it would fit in the back seat of my Toyota Echo. I measured, checked advertised height etc., and when I narrowed down asked makers for full dimensions of models.

I no longer own a car, but my Thormahlen Cygnet can fit in the back seat of almost any car except for Mini Coopers and others with similarly tiny back seats. I use ZipCar when I need to drive. For my pedal harp, Iuse ZipCar again but have a much smaller choice of viable vehicles. Since they move vehicles around and they can age out of inventory, it’s a gamble. There might be a minivan or Ford Escape two blocks from my house, and a month later I need to go Four Metro stops to cram it into a Prius.

The only halfway amusing story I had is when a band member gave me a ride once. I knew he had a Rav4, but I didn’t know it would be full of stuff, including a large box of music and several metal Manhasset stands. I have no idea how I got it in.

[Tacye]

Not only does the harp influence choice of car, it can influence our choice of house!

[Angela Biggs]

Haha, Tayce, funny you mention that — my husband and were browsing house floor plans recently, and my primary requirement was a first-floor “study” or similar room for the harps. Many a plan was disqualified right off the bat because it didn’t have a harp room!

I second Barbara’s comment. When I bought my harp, it *just barely* squeezed into our VW Jetta (we almost didn’t get to take it home!). It involved a lot of twisting and turning, and I couldn’t do it myself; my husband even had to come with me every time I played. (Fortunately, that didn’t happen much before we sold that car.) I suppose I should have researched the size of the harp better, but I really, really wanted this specific one, and they’re such awkward shapes that it’s darn near impossible to figure out if a potentially tight fit is going to work, even when you know the measurements.

When we were shopping around for our current car, I absolutely did carry my harp to try out in each vehicle we seriously considered. We basically made our final choice based on the harp, overlooking such minor details as a slipping clutch and overall wimpy-ness. 🙂

[tracey-kjonegaard]

Just curious, has anyone had experience with a Honda Fit? My cousin has one that I know would easily fit my lever harp w/ the seats down (also, Fits are hatchbacks). I liked how spacious it is on the inside.

My biggest problem with my current car (chevy cobalt) is that I have to awkwardly place my Ogden across the backseat and it seems like it just barely fits the width of my car. That said, I wouldn’t have any room to get even a slightly bigger harp in there. It doesn’t fit through my trunk w/ the seats down because the “height” of the trunk is too shallow to allow for it to slide all the way in.

Anyway, I know eventually want to learn pedal harp. I know it will be a few years out and perhaps by that time, I will have traded up for a completely different car BUT I’m just curious, have any of you had experience/luck with getting a pedal harp inside of a Fit, or even some other sort of hatchback? I’ve only seen pedal harps in real life, one time, so I don’t really have a good estimate as far as whether or not it would fit inside that size of car. I was also looking at something that was more of a wagon, like a subaru Outback or Impreza, which might be a better idea to avoid having to upgrade to a bigger car in a few years.

Any experience with these cars or similar recommendations? I’ve seen a lot of posts from people with minivans or SUVs where harps would easily fit, but I’m looking for something a bit smaller and compact.

Tracey

[alexandra-baldwin]

We used to own our ‘dream’ car, a Jaguar XJ12 in British Racing Green (we got it very used, of course… we are not Jaguar income kind of people!) Once I got the harp, however, and actually started having to transport it, we traded it in for an Element! I love the Element, it hauls everything, and it’s a good little car, but to go from (what I consider to be) the paragon of automotive beauty and style to… a box. Well. There were a few tears 🙂

[tracey-kjonegaard]

Oh wow that Jaguar looks like a nice car 😀 Definitely kind of a bummer to have to trade in for an Element lol but I know there has to be sacrifices when it comes to taking up harp as a hobby lol. I used to not like hatchbacks but now I’m finding myself coming around and warming up to them as that seems like it might be a good option. Like I said, I want something thats still kinda compact and would get good mileage and it seems like a hatchback or wagon might be the best fit. It just sucks that I’m trying to plan for when I might eventually invest in a pedal harp, yet I don’t ACTUALLY have a pedal harp to take around to dealers and test how it fits in the cars I want to check out :/

[tracey-kjonegaard]

Also, just a sidenote, I did search the forums for other postings about the Honda Fit and didn’t find any with feedback, just people questioning the fit. Does ANYONE have experience with the fit? I know some of those postings are a couple years old.
Anyone? Bueller…Bueller…

lol

[janna-bisceglia]

I ended up purchasing a Toyota Matrix for my Lyon and Healy 85E (46 strings). It fits in beautifully! Even though it is a small car, I really don’t have to angle the harp much, and there is plenty of room next to it for the dolly, string bag, etc. The seats fold down much flatter than a Subaru, so I think that makes the difference.

[shelby-m]

I transport my Ravenna 34 easily in the back seat of my Chevy Lumina. It also fits in the back of my mom’s old Dodge Caliber but you have to put one of the back seats down. I’ve also put it in the back of one of my friends’ dinky little Honda. It looks like an Avalon, but I’m not exactly sure what the model is…. anyway, I love that I can fit that harp in almost any car.

We just bought a Chevy minivan (not sure the model name) from a friend so I can drive my new Salvi Daphne 47SE to college with me in the fall. It wouldn’t fit in my mom’s new Mercury Mariner! She was so upset because she actually bought that car with the intent of driving me down to school with it, but got it before we got the harp. It looks so spacious inside that my parents assumed a pedal harp would fit but they were wrong!

[patricia-jaeger]

A Lyon and Healy Model 17 with 47 strings and extended soundboard fits easily, once the back seats are folded down, into a Toyota Camry 1992 station wagon.

[deb-l]

times like this I am grateful for my little Aziliz! Takes up very little room. I carry it easily upstairs, downstairs, outside.. I think I could fit it in the passengers seat of my Avalon if I really wanted too…

[M Rodgers]

Tracey,
I brought an Insight home and put and 15 in it. I don’t know about the Fit, It seems tight. I have a student who put a pedal harp in the Chevy Aveo hatchback.

[tracey-kjonegaard]

I wanna know how Aveos can hold so much! My friend fit 2 bass cabs (which are bigger than guitar cabs) a bass head, his bass guitar with a hardshell case AND was able to fit people in it. And that car seems so tiny!

*edit: he also fit a kick drum in there

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