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Mr. Francois: Would it be possible for all your harps to have the same soundboards for uniform quality in sound but be distinquished in appearance and price buy other features such as gilding, additional carving, exotic woods,etc?
it got bid up to and sold for $9,200-still a good deal for an instrument that presently retails for $50,000.
John: the last number I had for Walter was: 267-639-8456- He had to move out of his apt and is staying with a friend. Walter is in his 80’s.
Hi John:
It’s been a while since I checked back on this forum but thanks for the information on your company-where is it and what is your phone number or e-mail address- I haven’t bought Walter’s harp-I believe it’s still at the pawn shop on South St. in Philadelphia-the owner there told me that he still cannot sell it due to a block by an attorney. I think another fellow is also trying to sell it on this Harp column for $16,000-Even though his intentions are good(to try to help Walter’s finances)I would tell any potential buyer to beware at that price!
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if there have been experiments using a material other than wood on the neck of a pedal harp?
A few other points: Walter Pfeil made a 48th string on top of the “g”- an “a” string-in order to do this, he created a new eyelet in the soundboad and an additional peg for the string on the neck-it also has a larger handle than the stock one-Walter said it made it easier to move around.
Carl: I don’t know if you’ve gone on EBAY and saw the pictures of this harp. If you have, or get a chance, you’ll notice one of the photos shows a crack about three inches long on the top of
Dawn:
I made the pawn shop an offer. I offered to buy it back from them with a reasonable profit and then give Walter a fair price for it. So far, they haven’t responded. I heard he sold it to the pawn shop for $2,000.- which wasn’t fair,even in the condition it’s in.
Hi Barbara: I did speak to Walter again regarding the bolts near the base and they are on both sides. He didn’t use your term “blown out” but instead said it was “slipping”. He said a proper repair on it would be aprox. $8,000.- and the bolts were intended to hold it until it could be properly fixed. He said it has been like this for a few years.
Hi Barbara: I’m not sure if a hole was drilled through the body for that bolt and washer or why it’s there. That would be a shame. It might be a $6,000 or more repair according to L&H, but what would you do if it had a hole in the body? Patch it? I think at a minimum, someone would be looking at $10,000 in repairs not including the soundboard, re-riveting, alignment of the column, regulation and new strings.
Dawn: He could only reclaim it if he had pawned it and used the harp as collateral. They bought it outright from him so I doubt they would let him repurchase it. Oh, maybe they would -at $15,000!
you can see on one of the photos on EBAY what I’m talking about regarding the base- there is one photo of the side of the harp on the left side-there is a large gap between the base and body and there are green felts inserted there to take up the slack-also there is a large bolt with washer visible in the photo-not sure if this is original or an attempt to prevent any more separation.
Dawn: ever try to negotiate with a pawn shop? Trust me, the price they’re willing to negotiate is still more than it’s worth and 5 times what they paid for it.
