Renting to own the Venus Prodigy

[Sidney Dharmavaram]

If your open to other models of harps, here’s one:

“1992 Venus Encore Concert Harp

One owner, extended soundboard with decal,
walnut finish approximately 46 strings, 82lbs. Includes
matching wooden music stand, adjustable stool, padded dust
cover, 3 wheel harp caddy, additional folding stool and
stand. Misc extra strings plus some music. Would benefit
from new strings and regulation. Near Jacksonville
Florida, shipping not included.

[Owosso Harpist]

I tried getting a hold of the seller of the Encore, but all she wanted was cash paid in full. So that didn’t work out. All I want is a Venus pedal harp located in the Midwestern and the Northeastern areas which I can afford to pay $150-$200 a month and pay $300 to $400 to ship to the Michigan area. And I sure need all the help I can get from you guys to find one that’s perfect for me, especially finding the Prodigy, Classic, Paragon, Aria, Encore, Traditional and other Venus Harps like them.

[Owosso Harpist]

I’ve just discovered this site that has Pedal Harps available for rent.

Reigning Harps

And one of them has a Venus Traditional available for rent for $125 a month which I’m looking into renting right now.

Marian Sussman has a
46-string (low C to high F) Venus Traditional Concert model harp
with extended sound board and big sound. It has new strings as of August.
It comes with a one piece transport cover. Rental cost is $125 per month
plus tax. Email harpnoteATgmailDOTcom
for a picture.

Hope she still has them.

[Evelyn Tournquist]

So you’re going to send back the harp you are renting so you can rent another harp instead?

[Owosso Harpist]

Yes, I’m starting to consider that. I’ll have to talk to my mom about sending the harp back so I can save more money and have enough to rent to own a pedal harp coming from the best harp dealer around such as Harps Unlimited International which I will have to stick to if I truly want to afford renting to own a really neat brand new pedal harp I can be proud of owning. May have to settle for a Camac Clio if Peter doesn’t have a Venus Prodigy Harp available for rent. But I want the extended soundboard version of the Clio, not the straight soundboard version.

[Owosso Harpist]

Update: After facing so many choices and so many harps to choose from, I
decided to do the next best thing and ask Budget Harp Rentals in
Jacksonville, Florida if we can switch harps and see if the harp I pick
is in far better condition than the harp I have. To be frank, I don’t
want a Camac harp at all. I only want a harp that perfectly fits what I
want for a harp. I’m going to be open minded and see if the BHR
has a Lyon & Healy 23 in a much better condition than the harp I
have and see if it’s ok for me to switch from the Classic I have to the
23 harp.

[Owosso Harpist]

Update: I might as well give up looking for harps right now and go back to
raising more money. I’ll have better luck when I raise more money to
where I can either finance or rent to own any pedal harp I can afford.

[Owosso Harpist]

Today I sent another application to Lyon & Healy harps in hopes of
affording to buy the Chicago Petite 40 pedal harp which costs $10,450 to buy. Unfortunately the
application was declined again! *sigh* I give up. Now more raising money
to buy a brand new harp. From now on I’ll start raising money to buy and
fix up the harp I already have. I guess the Venus Classic and I are
meant for each other… and that’s all right with me. I love the
Venus Classic and would never have any other harp. To me, I prefer concert
grands than small dinky harps anyway.

Have a great weekend!

[poppy-rose]

Quite the saga!

[deb-l]

its a good thing Sherry when we realize we already have what we need to be happy, congratulations.

[kent-vogel]

Might it be said that the harp manufacturors hurt themselves and their workforce families by not allowing very good, decent performers, with careful, conscientious, bill paying histories, to buy their instruments, on

[carl-swanson]

Kent- Most harp companies are simply not in a position financially to self-finance the purchase of their instruments. There is an enormous amount of labor that goes into the building of a harp, and the money for that comes from sales. Also, the product is being shipped all over the country and the world, and the harp companies are just not set up to deal with delinquent purchasers. I rent harps, and normally don’t rent my harps beyond a distance that I can drive to pick it up. Most other people who rent harps do the same thing. A few years ago I rented an instrument to a family in Rochester NY, which is already at the outer limit of distance that I would rent(11 hours away by car!). The family then moved to Florida and the father asked me if he could take the instrument. I reluctantly agreed. Once the harp was in Florida, it was like pulling teeth to get him to pay, and after a year of this, he simply stopped paying completely. I had $1,200 in out of pocket expenses to get the instrument back, and thank God, Dickie Fleischer was able to help me retrieve it. And get this, the family are evangelical Christians and the father is a lawyer. I wonder what his explanation is for theft and deceit.

[David Ice]

Carl, that is an absolutely appalling story!

[Philippa mcauliffe]

Oh dear.

[Owosso Harpist]

That is indeed appalling, Carl. Definitely an example given to all of how it’s not a good idea to rent a harp from any individual whether that person is from a harp dealer or an independent owner if you don’t have the money to pay for the harp in full. I won’t be renting harps again even when it cost $100 a month or less to rent it. Rather I’ll send the harp I’m renting back to where it came from and go buy my own harp and pay for it in full rather than cheat and lie my way into getting a harp like what that family did.

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