—by Katherine Pecora
His heart was beating fast as he unsnapped the shiny metal buckles on the sides of the box, opened the lid, and gingerly lifted the harp out. The sharply dressed man held the large Paraguayan instrument in the air as he carefully surveyed its post-flight condition. Everything on the harp appeared to be in working order—the strings, the wood—and then his stomach dropped. Tilting the harp to the side, he saw three long cracks on the back of the soundboard and instantly knew what had happened.
Harpist Alfredo Rolando Ortiz’s instrument received a death blow when it was dropped on the hard floor during a TSA inspection and then was returned to its case. The instrument case itself remained in perfect condition. This wasn’t the first time Ortiz’s harp received damage during airport inspection. That harp in particular had accumulated many scratches due to rough handling.
Ortiz’s story is every musician’s worst nightmare. It’s also a reminder that transporting an instrument isn’t without dangers. Whether you’re shipping a harp across the country or bringing it on the plane with you as luggage, traveling with a harp can be nerve-wracking. Every time a harpist takes their instrument outside their home, they have to navigate many obstacles to ensure the harp’s safety. From bumpy roads to strangers eager to “let me get that for you,” the world is full of dangers for the majestic but somewhat fragile harp.
It’s fortunate then that harpists are such a clever, innovative bunch. For decades, harpists have been finding creative solutions to getting their instruments from point A to point B safely. Through a series of trial and error efforts, they have discovered innovative ways to maintain some control during the shipping process. For 20th century Spanish harp legend Nicanor Zabaleta that meant partially disassembling his harp. You read that right.
After a show in Mexico City in 1985, Dickie Fleisher, harpist for the Naples (Fla.) Philharmonic and owner of Budget Harp Rentals—found himself on the same flight as the world-famous Zabaleta. Fleisher quickly noticed Zabaleta’s unique travel method for the harp. Zabaleta had his Salvi harp in a leather case, but took off the base of the harp. It may have been his attempt to make the harp lighter and prevent anyone from standing the harp up while it was traveling. Zabaleta would carry the base himself and would be on the runway when the harp was loaded on the plane and when the harp was taken off the flight. At that point he simply carried the harp and put the base back on.
“And that’s the way he traveled with his harp,” Fleisher recalls. “It wasn’t even a padded cover. It was just leather. And he would watch it go on the plane and watch it come off the plane…he was one of the great masters in the 50s, 60s, 70s. One of the greats.”
Zabaleta carefully choreographed every step the harp would take and every person that would lay a hand on it. This acute attention to detail helped him maintain control throughout the harp’s travels. Airline security has changed since Zabaleta’s day, so harpists today can’t execute his exact approach. However, you can implement a smart strategy to maximize the chance your harp will arrive safely at any destination.
Getting organized
Whether you are shipping a harp across the country or overseas, the more lead time available the better. Six months in advance is ideal and allows ample time to complete any necessary paperwork, purchase or construct a shipping box, contact your insurance company, find a shipping company, and get all the logistics in place. This is also an important time to better understand your insurance policy and know how your instrument is protected. You can’t plan too much, especially if shipping a harp overseas. Simply completing the paperwork to ship a harp to foreign country can take months.
The time of year you are moving the harp also plays a role. Some harpmakers and harp stores won’t ship harps in extreme temperatures. Keri Armendariz, marketing manager at Lyon & Healy Harps in Chicago, knows all too well the role temperature plays in the shipping process. Lyon & Healy won’t ship harps when the temperature is below 32 degrees F or above 96 degrees F. There are exceptions where a harp must be moved in extreme heat or cold, and in those instances Lyon & Healy uses a temperature-controlled truck. However, this convenience isn’t without a cost.
This is where research is key. Before you ship anything, it’s important to determine what shipping method is best for your situation. A harpist who needs to get his pedal harp at a performance overseas in the dead of winter will have different priorities than a harpist who is shipping her harp across the country because she’s moving.
Preparing your lever harp
For lever harps small enough to be shipped by UPS, things are pretty straightforward. The trick is securing the harp so it won’t budge inside the shipping box. Sue Mooers has developed a packing strategy over three and a half decades she and her husband Ray have owned Dusty Strings Harps in Seattle. She uses a combination of die-cuts and cartons to keep the harp securely in the box. UPS requests that packages be able to withstand a three-foot drop, which is why Mooers also uses two inches of dense padding for each box. And unlike pedal harps, which have a higher string tension, Mooers doesn’t detune their lever harps. In fact, customers can play the harp right out of the box when it arrives.
When shipping a harp, Mooers advises that you don’t want the box too big or too small. This is why she recommends that harpists keep the original box and the packaging supplies in which their harp was shipped. In the event that you don’t have the original box, you can order one from the harpmaker. However, it will cost her just as much to ship an empty box as it would if there was a harp in it. That’s because UPS shipping costs are calculated by dimensional weight or volumetric weight.
This pricing method is commonly used in the commercial freight world and is determined by multiplying the length, width, and height and dividing that total by the dimensional factor set by UPS. Mooers says the price to ship continues to increase, which is in part because large packages like harps don’t fit on conventional sorting conveyors. That means that UPS staff must transport the box another way throughout the storage facility. But as long as the package is under 150 lbs., 108 inches in length, or 165 inches in combined length and girth, it can be shipped by UPS. Anything exceeding those figures must be shipped by UPS Freight.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going and that applies to shipping boxes. For harpists who don’t have the original box, they get creative. Mooers said she has seen harpists bubble wrap a harp and then put it inside two bike boxes clam shelled together. Truly, packaging a harp for shipping can be a lot of trial and error.
Preparing your pedal harp
For pedal harpists, shipping a harp is a bit trickier. Fortunately, you don’t have to take Zabaleta’s approach to ensure your pedal harp arrives at its destination safely. Today harpists rely on private shipping companies and freight services to transport their prized harps. There are a variety of shipping companies to choose from, but the harpists we talked to preferred Admiral Movers and Craters & Freighters. The options and costs will vary. FedEx and UPS LTL (less-than-truckload) freight services could be comparable in price to a local shipping company. It’s worth the time to take a look.
There are two main ways to ship across the country: by ground or by air. Shipping by ground on a truck is often less expensive than shipping by air, but it all depends. Even though gas prices are low, shipping rates keep rising. Fleisher has found that the price has to do with where the shipping company’s hub is. Shipping a harp to New York from Fleisher’s home in Naples, Fla., is cheaper than shipping from Jacksonville, Fla., because there is more competition. He suggests shopping around to get the best price and consider meeting the harp at the closest shipping hub to save money.
Most shipping companies won’t package the harp for transportation, so it’s up to the harpist to get the instrument ready. Many harpists will use either the original cardboard box the pedal harp came in or will opt for a heavy-duty harp transport box or “coffin,” as some affectionately call it. These tough transport boxes can be made of metal, wood, or plastic. Some even have caster wheels at the base of the box for easy moving. If you shop around, you may be able to find a used box for a quarter of what a new one would cost—normally around $2,000.
No matter what type of shipping box you use, the trick is getting the harp to fit inside securely. Megan Landfair, manager of the Virginia Harp Center of Philadelphia, recommends covering the harp with two dust covers for a more snug fit inside the box. Landfair says that it’s important to make sure the harp is completely stable. Once the harp is in its case, she recommends putting a hand on the harp and trying to move it different directions. If it doesn’t move, then you can assume the harp is secure.
Landfair also recommends putting the pedals in flat and detuning the harp before packing it. Detuning the harp reduces the tension on the instrument while in transit. How much should you detune? It depends who you talk to. Lyon & Healy’s policy is to detune each pin by a quarter turn, while the Virginia Harp Center uses a one-third turn as a rule.
Armendariz says that Lyon & Healy uses a systematic approach and detunes each pin from the highest to lowest before the harp is shipped. When it arrives at its destination Lyon & Healy recommends retuning from lowest to highest. Fleisher only lowers the harp’s tension when it could meet cold weather, to prevent the metal strings from contracting, which puts more stress on the soundboard.
Shipping domestically
Need to ship your pedal harp across the country, but don’t want to shell out big bucks for a heavy-duty transport case? Fleisher’s shipping solution is simple. “Palletize it!” Fleisher has shipped harps for over 30 years and relies on pallets to keep his treasured harps protected from the destruction of the forklift. While Fleisher primarily ships pedal harps, his tips can work for lever harps too.
Forklifts have been wreaking havoc on harps for decades. Ortiz learned this first hand when he order Paraguayan harps from Lino Ruiz Diaz, a now retired Paraguayan harpmaker from Buenos Aires. Diaz would send the harps in light wooden boxes that would often arrive without incident. Ortiz recalls an exception when a forklift operator was trying to raise the wooden box and instead pushed the arms of the forklift through the middle of the box and, subsequently, the sound box of the harp.
The theory is that by having a harp on a pallet, a forklift driver won’t try to lift the harp box itself, but will use the pallet instead. Pallets are ideal for moving large items and merchandise. This is mainly because the large space between the horizontal portions of the pallet makes it easy for the forklift to ease in its arms and raise the pallet.
Fleisher packages a pedal harp in a cardboard box, puts the box on a pallet, drapes strong nylon rope across the top of the box, and then secures the ends of the rope to the pallet. Then he leaves the pallet in his driveway for the shipping company to pick up. He has shipped over 100 harps using this method and has never had a problem. “For me, the number one factor in insuring the safe shipment of a harp is to put it on a pallet,” says Fleisher. “That way, the box is never picked up directly—it’s always picked up from the pallet by a forklift because it can’t be moved without a forklift.”
Navigating the international shipping dilemma
If shipping overseas, the pallet trick isn’t your silver bullet. In this case, it’s best to use a heavy-duty transport case. These type of cases can be easily opened, which is important when the harp is being inspected by customs. Fleisher is no stranger to shipping harps overseas and knows all too well what an intricate process it is. “There’s a lot of people involved,” he says. That’s one of the reasons why the preparation process can be so tedious. Harpists must file the appropriate paperwork with customs and immigration months in advance and not only provide proof they own the harp but give documentation that the harp will not stay in the country.
Truly, the harp’s safety depends on every detail of the trip being carefully thought out because there is no one watching the harp as it makes its way through different hands on its way to the final destination. The shipping company picks up your harp and delivers it to the plane or boat for transportation. Once the harp arrives in the foreign country, there must be a cosigner to pick it up for you. Then you must line up someone to transport the harp from the cosigner at the airport or shipping terminal to the performance hall or other designated destination.
While a harpist could use the shipping company to expedite the whole process for a fee, Fleisher stresses that there needs to be a person you trust at the other end, especially if the harp is going to a foreign country. Armendariz agrees. Having someone there to look out for the harp is especially important in the event the harp arrives damaged. “If they notice damage to the carton or trunk, on the bill of lading they should write ‘carton damaged/contents possibly damaged’ and take photographs,” Armendariz says. “Ask for a copy of the bill of lading.” The bill, or receipt from the carrier to the cosigner, is a legal document that details the condition of the cargo upon its arrival. It’s required anytime a freight shipment is moved.
Getting the harp to arrive safely in a foreign country isn’t the last hurdle in international shipping. You also have to coordinate you or your cosigner and the harp arriving on the same day. The last thing you want after all the work you put into safely shipping the harp is for your instrument to sit in a sweltering terminal for a week. Even with careful planning, many things can cause a delay, including problems with paperwork, customs, or weather. Getting the stars to align often comes down to luck.
Israel-based harpist Sunita Staneslow recalls when Irish harpist Grainne Hambly traveled to Israel for some performances and arrived in the country before her harp did. “She showed up for breakfast and picked up my harp to use until hers arrived,” Staneslow says.
In the event that the harp isn’t staying overseas, shipping it back to the States can be another dance of timing and red tape. Fleisher says that often times the return leg of a round trip is more expensive than the first leg. “A lot of times they’ll double the price to send it back to you if you want it,” Fleisher says. “So make sure you come to an understanding in advance and get that in writing.”
Air, land, and sea
What about shipping by boat? Fleisher has shipped harps by boat in the U.S., but doesn’t recommend it. If you want to give it a try, be prepared to arrive four hours early so the harp can be inspected by Homeland Security. Since September 11, 2001, security has been tight and delays the norm. Boats are a no-go for Fleisher, who ships primarily by truck across the U.S. and by air overseas. “I don’t think you can put [a harp] on a pallet overseas to my knowledge because they have to put it in a container,” Fleisher says. “If you’re going to send it by cargo boat you don’t know the humidity, you don’t know what’s going on there.”
For Landfair at the Virginia Harp Center of Philadelphia, helping a customer ship her harp from New York City to Hawaii by sea quickly became an interesting experience. “We figured out that the most cost effective way to get her harp to Maui was by boat,” she said. “At the time, we didn’t realize what a long journey it would be for her harp. Weather complications and labor strikes among the dock workers resulted in a month-long journey to its Hawaiian home. Once the harp arrived, she did mention that it was in great shape and worth the wait,” Landfair says.
Shipping alternatives
For some harpists, shipping is simply too much of a hassle and it isn’t a risk they are willing to take. Celtic harpist Kim Robertson carries her harp in a flight case and checks it as package. Since she started touring, Robertson has traveled across the world to Canada, Hawaii, Scotland, Europe, South America, and New Zealand with her Celtic harp at her side.
Robertson carefully plans every detail she can to ensure her harp has a safe journey. Before she leaves for the airport, she puts bubble wrap around the levers and adds soft clothing around the harp for added protection inside the case. She knows all too well that baggage handlers can be rough and a “fragile” sticker might not cut it. “I think it can help to put a ‘musical instrument’ label on it, or even better ‘harp’ so they understand it really is fragile,” Robertson said.”My father made a great sign for one of my harp cases that said: ‘I am a Harp! I am very fragile! Please handle me with care.’”
When she checks in at the airport she requests that airline staff hand carry her harp case down to the baggage area. This way her harp doesn’t have to meet the luggage belt where it might fall off on a sharp turn. Even with these careful steps, Robertson is aware that TSA will have to inspect the harp because it won’t fit in the X-ray scanner. She also knows that any inspection might disrupt or remove her careful packaging. Fortunately, she hasn’t had too many issues other than broken levers, a broken harp foot, and the occasional broken string.
Like with every harp shipping method, trying to get the harpist and the harp in the same place at the same time is a challenge. “It’s pretty much a gamble if my harp will arrive on the same flight so I factor that into my schedule,” Robertson said. If her harp is in tow, she will plan to arrive a day early and take the earliest flight.
Roberston says she has learned two important lessons in her travels with her harp—to have a case she can carry and to plan her entire journey, not just the flight. Robertson has often arrived at her destination and then has had to carry her case a long distance. “My most nerve-wracking experience was flying into Malaga, Spain, with my harp to play on a cruise ship,” she said. “The flight case wouldn’t fit inside any of the available taxis at the airport so a driver ended up attaching it to the roof of his cab with bungee cords. Yikes! He assured me it would be safe and then proceeded to speed down the road, and with every sharp turn I could see the case dip over the side. Amazingly, it didn’t fall off.”
Choosing the right option for you
Truly, there are a great number of ways to ship a harp, but for some, the risk to their precious instruments is just too great. Fortunately, there are many harp rental options no matter where you are in the world. Renting a harp is a convenient, reliable way to have the instrument you need without the time and financial expense of shipping. While it’s not like having your own harp, it is a great solution.
But if you need to ship your harp, with careful preparation and research you can maximize the chances of a smooth ride for your harp.
Landfair sums it up best. “The prospect of shipping your harp can be scary, but rest assured when done correctly and with a great support system, your harp will arrive safely at its destination.” •
