~ Orphan Harp Info

One-of-a-kind Gambles

~The Orphan Harp - Defined

Not all harps are made professionally. Some are made by amateur woodworkers who know how to make wood beautiful yet know nothing about the physics of a nice sounding, playable harp. The Editor (Stephen Vardy) of Used Harp Mart.ca has heard strings that “thud” on such harps. Look for harpmakers who have made a dozen or more harps already as their designs are more likely to be successful. As professional dealers Alison & Stephen Vardy with www.westcoastharps.com prefer to only stock professionally made harps - new, used or consigned and are very fussy about any used harp they sell.

Harp making methods and technologies have progressed tremendously in the last fifteen years as the North American harping interest has expanded. Some earlier folk harps, even those made by long established companies, were not particularly well designed by modern standards rendering them obsolete with poor sound, bad weight-to-size ratios or lesser playability. These outdated harps are simply not enjoyable to own and are best described as hard to sell “orphans”. As a result these harps may end up on eBay alongside the cheap but usually unplayable carved rosewood Harp-Shaped Objects from Pakistan.

There are no free rides in the used harp world. Used harp Buyers on a budget tend to have any two of these three choices but usually not all three – cheap, beautiful or playable. Any larger used floor harp priced much below CAD$2000 must be considered to be a cheap deal. It is the Buyer's guess as to which remaining choice applies - either beautiful or playable. It is unlikely to be both. It may very well be neither.

~ Harp Pricing Stability

Buyers tend to get what they pay for with these musical instruments. Harps are expensive and time consuming to make. The average professional harpmaker or luthier works with a very slim profit margin and has limited production capability. All harpmakers understand that their peers too work with similar constraints. As a result there is very little “specialing” of professionally made new harps. New instruments of a similar quality tend to be of a similar price. This makes for a stable industry where Buyers generally get what they pay for and where a professionally made new harp of modern design tends to retain its value over time.

This new harp pricing stability tends to extend to used harp pricing too - good, playable, well designed and nice sounding harps tend to retain their value as they age. If the new or used harp design is not to current standards their value tends to drop more quickly. It pays long term to buy a modern design at the outset from a reputable dealer and avoid the more rapid depreciation.

~ A Canadian Solution - Harp Buyers experience more choice

The biggest differences in the new harp dealer's offerings over used private sales for quality harps are to be found in design, service and ease of acquisition - not necessarily the price.

Every harp is a compromise. When buying a used harp in a private sale a Buyer is on their own. The shipping difficulties, lack of warranty and attendant payment hassles rest solely on the private sale Buyer. A Buyer have harping experience may be able to discern a good deal from not. Caveat Emptor - Buyer Beware. Please read the scams page. This website's owner West Coast Harps came into being as there simply were not very many accessible ways of safely buying a new or used harp in Canada. The assurance of easily receiving a quality harp along with exact pricing are their foremost service when dealing with Alison & Stephen Vardy at www.westcoastharps.com. They have identified a critical need for a wide variety of harps to be made available to interested Canadians for an affordable price, in a timely fashion without all the attendant shipping or border issues when either buying new or used and without being stuck with an orphan harp.

Read about the Pakistani and Chinese harps too....

Thank you for reading - Stephen