So what extents have YOU gone to?

[eliza-morrison]

It was difficult, and I have since regretted it. The present owners have offered me rights of first refusal if they ever decide to sell it.

[michelle-winston]

I worked 3 jobs: drove with limited car insurance, ate ramen noodles, shopped at goodwill for presents for family when I could shop at all. Many harps came and went during that time. They were for sale, for rent–but I was going to wait and be able to pay for it on my own. There weren’t hands out, there wasn’t indiegogo –and I wouldn’t have done it that way anyway. I worked my butt off. I sacrificed so much— 80 hour work weeks doing whatever I could to make the money–don’t regret one hour of it. The harp I have was the harp I was meant to have.

[rachel-fowler]

After renting a pedal harp for a bit, I used 4 years’ summer wages of driving tractor on my parent’s farm, plus a generous donation from a woman I barely knew at my church (she came into an inheritance and wanted to bless others!), and bought a LH85 semi-grand in my senior year of high school. So far, my harp has taken me through college and countless gigs, and I absolutely love it. Still not sure how I ever could have afforded it if not for that generous woman…I hope one day I can pay it forward!

[natalie-wagner–2]

I had a little baby 28 string lap harp with the string tension of old rubber bands from age 11-15. After my first year or two my teacher immediately began prodding my parents to save up for a pedal harp, since a larger lever harp would only “last so long” before I needed to “upgrade” again. (All the quotation marks are for my respect of lever harp as it’s own beautiful and unique instrument that is in no way inferior to pedal harp. That is another thread entirely though so I won’t continue!)

I have always been a babysitter since I was old enough to *sit on the babies*. 😛 I saved up close to $2,000 on my own. Two people from my church heard me during a bible study discussion (about our goals for the next year) say something like, “Well I pray God helps me to get my pedal harp. Because right now I can’t learn more without a bigger harp.” This couple, who are very close family friends now, put on a spaghetti dinner where I played background music for about half an hour and Christian singer (@http://www.joshuapricemusic.com ) Joshua Price filled in the rest of the time for me. So many good and wonderful people chipped in, and that brought another $1,200 roughly. Still not the $9,000 for a used lyon and Healy used Style 85petite….

So my amazing father sold his Harley Davidson motorcycle. My mom and dad made the most sacrifices to bring me to where I am, and I am SO blessed and thankful to have them. We call it a Harpley now! And dad regularly makes requests for me to play. His favorite is the Long and Winding Road by the Beatles (Sylvia Woods arrangement). I got it the summer I turned 15, and it was delayed because the heat was too high to ship it! I had never tuned that many loose strings, and it took me days to get it right!

This summer I had my own money saved up $4,000, and decided to invest in a Florida proof carbon fiber harp. I financed $2,000 over a year but paid it off in September I think. It was $6,300 totaled, and I love it! I can play outdoor gigs with no worries. It was my very first purchase and loan that I paid all by myself! It was actually my first and only loan…

I always tithed to God, since I started earning money. I believe He is the one who blesses and sustains me, so this small percentage going back to Him is nothing. I also believe that because of my faith He has truly paved a way for me financially. I have no full time job, I’m a nanny and a babysitter. I live with my parents and don’t have a car, but I do have a cellphone and car insurance and filling the cars I share with my family. My bills all get paid with not a penny of debt and always a few dollars slipping into savings.

I suppose what I mean to say is, trust your finances with your faith. When you think you won’t be able to make it, sometimes God will surprise you at the last possible moment. ^_^

— Natalie

[emma-graham]

I sold my flute to help my parents finance my first harp – an antique Grecian. (Oh, the irony whenever anyone says “I bet you wish you played the flute…..”) Since then I have continued to save and then upgrade until I got my dream harp: L+H style 11. When my grandma died she left me quite a sizeable sum of money and I bought my first ever brand new harp. I wanted something for use at weddings that wasn’t gilded but still with the look of gold so I got the 23 ebony and bronze. I love them both but the 23 is developing the most amazing sound. I k ow I am incredibly lucky to own two such fabulous harps.
For Tracey, there’s a pic of my 23 here!

http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l614/goldenharp1/CC79281F-1389-4FFA-8F54-19AF1064620C-4565-0000086AFDAE9841_zpsb0d74a32.jpg

Hope that works, I’m on my iPad and it won’t let me upload a photo direct to the forum.

[kreig-kitts]

I was part of the “slow and steady” group. I rented two different lever harps for a year or two until I was pretty sure this wasn’t a brief fixation. I finally purchased a lever harp, a new Thormahlen. I did so mostly with a credit card, though I knew my cash flow well enough to know I wouldn’t be carrying the balance very long. But still, it wouldn’t have killed me to have saved up some more. For my pedal harp, I was more disciplined and saved up, while patiently looking at used harp listings and waiting until I’d achieved another long-term goal of getting my own place. Eventually, after a particularly good bonus at work, I had enough to buy one of a couple used harps that were advertised by the same person. I made a trip to look at and play them, and purchased a “gajillion” year old Venus in beautiful shape with a nice tone.

[jessica-wolff]

I’ve always loved the ebony-&-bronze look, though my teacher said that it looked dingy earlier than a gilded harp.

[Marco Hilgeman]

Hi all,

It’s fun to read all the stories…I’m still in the process of getting my Camac mini blue electro-acoustic pedal harp, I ordered it last month and it’ll (hopefully) be delivered in February..can’t wait!

I saved up money the past years which is more than half of the total amount, I also borrowed some money from my dad (thanks pops) and I’ll lend the rest of the amount from the harp shop. It’ll be a rent-buy construction (that’s how we call it in The Netherlands), dunno if that exists in the US but it means that you lend a certain amount of money from the shop, in my case the remaining amount that I still need. This means you actually rent the harp for that amount and it will be divided into a monthly payment for a certain period of time. The shop still ‘owns’ the harp until the day that you made your last payment, and then it’s finally really yours. I can also make extra payments to lower my debt, without extra charge. It also means I’m obliged to insure it, which is a good thing anyway I think.
In total it will be a 3 years loan, but less if I make extra payments during that time, which will of course decrease the amount and loan period.

But first I have to wait for it to arrive…I’ll post a picture whenever I have it!

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