Help — My Harp Just Exploded!

[deb-l]

I’m really sorry for what your going through. They need to understand that word is out and they need to stand by their product.

[Janice Hunter]

Not that I can afford a pedal harp at this time, but after reading this I have decided that when, and if, I ever can buy a pedal harp, I am going to buy either one of Carl Swanson’s harps or a restored one from Howard Bryan.

If this is the kind of support you get from Lyon & Healy, I am not sure I would want to buy one of their harps.

This is obviously a manufacturing defect and they should put on a new soundboard at no cost to you and probably give you reduced shipping as well.

$2200 plus shipping for a patch job is ridiculous.

[eliza-morrison]

Janice, I have a 1912 L&H Style 21 which was completely rebuilt by Howard Bryan in 2006. The sound is amazing! So are the aesthetics: gilding, soundboard art, etc. I have also heard many good things about Swanson harps. Carl put a new neck on my 23 about ten years ago. He did great work, communicated with me well, and charged less than L&H would have done for the same job. (He even matched the warm butterscotch tone of the wood perfectly).

[galen-reed]

Check to see if you can have it itemized on your homeowners. Also, you may need to declare whether you use the harp “professionally” (i.e. is it income generating) – that can be an issue.

[carl-swanson]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I sincerely doubt that this will be covered by insurance. It’s not accidental damage.

[Janice Hunter]

Is is possible to get harp insurance that would cover this sort of manufacturing defect or failure?

I was thinking about renting a harp and one of the conditions was that I would have to insurance on it while it was in my possession.

[barbara-brundage]

As Carl said, no normal insurance policy covers manufacturing defects, I’m afraid. That’s what warranties are for. Insurance is for accidents, not this.

[barbara-brundage]

It’s the same way your car insurance isn’t going to cover it when your transmission fails five miles after the warranty on the drive train expires.

[cc-chiu]

Isn’t there a customer protection law that states that a product should be reliable? For instance, if I buy a new car and eventually, the warranty expires but suddenly it falls apart, the company will still need to provide compensation because they didn’t provide a ‘reliable’ product. You buy a car and expect it will last quite some time and won’t suddenly fall apart. Under that law, you won’t be protected against leaky tires but you can expect the product to be structually reliable for a reasonable amount of time. If it falls apart after 25 years, it might be a little different :).

From what I’ve heard, harps aren’t supposed to fall apart that *at all* so even if your warranty doesn’t cover it, it would be rather unfair if they didn’t replace the harp – as it wasn’t a reliable product.

But I guess the laws in the US are a little different…

[barbara-brundage]

That’s by state, but I frankly think you’d have a problem with a product that lasted the length of the expressed warranty and then developed an issue.

[eliza-morrison]

Still, I would expect a company like Lyon and Healy to stand behind their product. Save this thread for them so they can read everyone’s comments!

[barbara-low]

Carolyn, if you like the sound of your harp, there’s no need to replace the sound board.

[barbara-low]

P.S. If you’d like to talk about this off forum, email me at:

pedalingharpist at comcast dot com.

[carl-swanson]

From a purely legal standpoint,i.e., what would be presented in a court of law, a 5 year warranty is an incredibly long warranty, which is only against defects in materials and/or workmanship anyway. So the fact that this happened after 10 years is likely to look, from a purely legal standpoint, like a reasonable amount of time. Also, any company being sued for something that has happened to their product after 10 years is likely to defend themselves by saying that they have no idea what the owner did with the instrument in those 10 years. The harp could have been tuned too high, it could have been dropped, etc., to cause damage after 10 years time. I’m sure none of those things happened, but that’s what a company would probably say in their defense, that at best, they should only be held 50% responsible for what happened to the instrument.

[Carolyn DUrso]

Thank you, everyone, for your comments and interest. I’ve decided to continue this subject under a new thread, “Lyon & Healy Repair Service After My Harp ‘Exploded'” — I hope you’ll join me there with your helpful input.

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