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This is a really screwed up family, and the father is a domineering narcissistic jerk. When the daughter was accepted to study in New York State, he moved the whole family up north so she could still live at home. Then 2 months into the school year, he took her out of school and the whole family moved back to Florida. The harp teacher was furious because this was a spot which could have gone to another student who would have stayed the whole year. I was furious because I had agreed to rent the instrument to an address in New York state, not Florida, and I had turned down other potential renters after he agreed to rent it. So when he informed me in early November, I had no one else lined up to rent the instrument, so I reluctantly allowed him to take it. Boy, was THAT a mistake!!!
Deb- Every time I read that title to this thread I chuckle. It sounds like the harps are disappearing.
The reason I put that little (true) story up is to show just how difficult it is to get paid once the client has the instrument. It’s basically an honor system at that point and there is no great incentive for people to pay when they are a thousand miles or more away from the owner of the instrument. That’s one of the reasons why musical instrument companies use finance companies like Allegro instead of self financing. I’m sure that Allegro has a whole system set up to go after deadbeats like the lawyer down in Florida, whereas I don’t. I was extremely lucky that Dickie Fleischer happened to live about 15 minutes from this jerk and was willing if necessary to go get the instrument. As it happened, the man brought the instrument to Dickie(on my orders), and Dickie crated it up and shipped it back to me. Dickie insisted he didn’t want any money for his effort, but I was not going to do that. So the final cost to me for this mess was: $600 in lost rent, $400 shipping charges to get the instrument back to Boston, and $200 that I insisted on paying Dickie for his invaluable help. Total: $1,200.
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.
A friend of mine who is a very fine professional harpist and whose name you would know told me a while back that she has done so many functions and weddings in her career that she now just goes on automatic pilot when loading up and going to the function. The result she says, is that almost every time there is something that she forgot. One time it’s a tuning key, another it’s the string bag, another it’s the music. “I just know,” she said,”that someday I’m going to arrive at a wedding or reception and there won’t be a harp in the back of the car!”
Shannon- If you can email me several pictures of your Washburn when you get it I can give you a better idea of just what it needs. I’ve rebuilt many Washburns over my career.
There’s a way of taping it up that allows you to play. I hope I can describe it here. First of all, you need a type of medical bandage tape that is soft and pliable. The shiny stuff won’t work. I seem to remember that the tape I use is called Zonas tape, but I’m not sure. It’s hard to find. The tape should be about 1.5 inches wide. You will also need a small pair of very sharp scissors.
Start by cutting a piece of the tape off the roll that will go from just above the first knuckle(next to the finger nail) on the outside of the finger, over the end of the finger and down almost to the same joint on the inside of the finger. The tape at this point should be taped on your finger in a big U, with enough width to the tape to stick out on either side of your finger about a half inch. In other words, a half inch sticking out on one side, and a half inch sticking out on the other.
Now take the scissors and cut the tape at the bottom of the U(at the tip of the finger) from the outside edge to where it starts to stick to your finger tip. Do this on both sides of the finger. You should now have two cuts in the tape, the two of them together forming a straight line but not connecting(in other words, don’t cut all the way across the tape) at the finger tip.
Now gently fold the two pieces of tape that are on the palm side of the finger away from the other two pieces of tape just to get them out of the way. Now take one of the ends of the tape on the outside of your finger and gently fold it down and stick it to the side of your finger. This will cause a fold in the tape, between the outside of your finger where the tape is stuck down and the side of your finger where you just folded and stuck the end of the tape. Take your scissors and make a cut in the top of that loop. Gently peel the half of the piece nearest the palm side of your finger out of the way and take the piece on the nail side of your finger and stick it down completely. Take the piece you just moved out of the way and stick it down. It will be partly stuck to your finger and partly to the piece of tape you just stuck down. Do this to both sides of the tape on the fingernail side of your finger.
Now do the same thing with the left and right side of the tape on the palm side of your finger. One at a time, take the end of the tape and fold the end down onto the side of your finger forming a loop. Cut the loop then stick the half closer to the fingernail down, then the other part down on top of it. Do this to the remaining flap as well. What you should have now is a fingertip completely covered by the tape that has been contoured by cutting the loop formed each time you stick an end down. All of the edges should be facing towards your fingernail.
This works best if you scrub the area to be taped with alcohol first so the tape really sticks to your skin. It really works and will get you through a playing gig, both holding the cut closed and protecting the whole area which is very sensitive. Good luck. I hope this makes sense.
During her years of auditioning for orchestra positions and playing competitions, she would always show up without bringing her own instrument, look around the room where everyone was frantically warming up, see an old klunker in the corner that nobody else would touch, play whatever she had to play on that instrument, and win!
Anything made of wood(musical instrument, antique furniture, etc.) will suffer from excessive dryness. No matter what you get, try to keep the harp in a closed off room where you can keep a humidifier going that will keep the humidity between 40% to 60% relative humidity. Even if you are moving the harp out of that controlled environment a lot, for gigs or whatever, returning it to that humidified room will help prevent problems. Harps don’t dry out instantly when they go into a very dry environment. It takes months.
There is a thread here someplace about the Washburn, but here’s the gist of it again. Lyon & Healy decided sometime back in the 1920’s or maybe even earlier to sell some of their harps to retail music stores. But they wanted to keep the Lyon & Healy name for themselves and for sales directly from the factory. So they came up with the name Washburn. I’m not sure how they chose that name. The action plate has the name Washburn etched into it, and the serial number is a separate list from the Lyon & Healy list. But the action plate also says in several places that this is a Lyon & Healy harp and that it is made by Lyon & Healy. All of the Washburn harps were smaller student models, usually style 15 or style 16 harps. They were the same models, with no changes, as the smaller straight soundboard models available at the time in the Lyon & Healy line. I’m guessing that production of the Washburn harp ended at WWII when the whole factory closed down for the duration of the war.
We should all keep an eye out for pictures of this harp and the description to show up elsewhere. Maybe on Craigslist? Several years ago one of the people here informed me via a private email that pictures of a harp I was selling and the exact description that I had up on my web site had turned up someplace else, I can’t remember where now. Someone had stolen the pictures and description off my web site.
I just got a phone call and an email from Dickie Fleisher, who is the person I asked to look into this. He contacted the seller and got the following email from her. Dickie says the whole thing is a scam and that the mistake this woman made was listing Jacksonville FL as the location for the harp, which is where Dickie has his business. I’m posting the whole email I got from him, without the photos of the harp.
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Hi Dickie,
As I told you right now I’m in Spain and my cell phone is not working here (it’s giving me a network connection error), I’m sorry, but you can ask me your questions thru email and I’ll get back to you asap. Please check the attachment for some pictures with the harp.
If you are interested I want to make the transaction thru Skrill (Moneybookers). This way you will have the opportunity to inspect the harp before you actually pay for it. I’m saying this because you will have a maximum 14 days inspection period. You will send the money to Skrill (Moneybookers) and they will keep the money for us. As soon as Skrill (Moneybookers) has the money I will ship the harp to you.
Skrill (Moneybookers) releases funds to the Seller once the inspection period has passed without the Buyer requesting cancellation of the transaction and upon Skrill (Moneybookers) verification of the transaction information. The inspection period is agreed to by both the Buyer and the Seller and commences once the Buyer has received the item. Funds are released to the Seller the same or next business day after completion of the transaction and upon verification by Internet Skrill (Moneybookers) Services.
As soon as I will have your full name and also your full shipping address I will open an escrow case with Skrill (Moneybookers) and they will give you step by step details on how to proceed with the deal and to make the payment.
Thanks,
Linda
Samantha- Technique is nothing more or less than using your hands in a way that doesn’t cause injury and which allows you to play whatever you want on the instrument. The simplest definition of technique is this: The ability to play any note at any speed at any volume. If you can do that, then you have good technique. There may be slight modifications for playing a lighter tension instrument, but basically the same technique should work on any type of harp.
Learning the harp without a teacher usually results in a lot of bad habits being developed that will prevent you from advancing very far technically. If you eventually do hook up with a teacher, his or her job will probably be made harder by the fact that there are so many problems to correct.
