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Renting to own the Venus Prodigy

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Home Forums Coffee Break Renting to own the Venus Prodigy

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 34 total)
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  • #104130
    Sidney Dharmavaram
    Participant

    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.

    #104131
    Owosso Harpist
    Participant

    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.

    #104132
    Owosso Harpist
    Participant

    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.

    #104133
    Evelyn Tournquist
    Participant

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

    #104134
    Owosso Harpist
    Participant

    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.

    #104135
    Owosso Harpist
    Participant

    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.

    #104136
    Owosso Harpist
    Participant

    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.

    #104137
    Owosso Harpist
    Participant

    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!

    #104138
    poppy-rose
    Participant

    Quite the saga!

    #104139
    deb-l
    Participant

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

    #104140
    kent-vogel
    Participant

    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

    #104141
    carl-swanson
    Participant

    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.

    #104142
    David Ice
    Participant

    Carl, that is an absolutely appalling story!

    #104143
    Philippa mcauliffe
    Participant

    Oh dear.

    #104144
    Owosso Harpist
    Participant

    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.

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 34 total)
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