My harp needed to go to the hospital (Lyon & Healy harp repair department) for some major surgery. There is a broken bone (small attachment in the mechanism that came loose, causing this awful buzz while I was playing) requiring orthopedic surgery (repair in the framework of the pedal mechanism). The break is small, but requires a long, involved surgery to repair. The problem is that the harp needs to be prepped (entirely unstrung), the mechanism removed and opened up, in order to fix this small problem. I have been putting this off for over 18 months ($$). My poor baby has to stay downtown for over two weeks. A few days for the repair (surgery) but then another week and a half or so for the technicians to tune and re-tune the new strings (recovery room and rehab).
In the meantime, a fellow harpist, Megan, who is very busy with her life and not able to play much at all right now, agreed to let me rent her harp for the duration. Her harp is a Lyon & Healy Petite pedal harp. Although smaller than my harp. the string spacing is the same. So I will be able to practice on my pieces while my baby is away. I had to make one adjustment: Paul cut a piece of plywood for me to set the harp on and bring it up higher. The pedals on this harp are lower to the floor than on mine, and I want to have it as close to mine as possible, so that the adjustment back to my harp is less difficult.
A harp mechanism removed (photo courtesy of Lyon & Healy)
Inside the mechanism (photo courtesy of Campbell's Harp Service)
Megan's Harp
Note plywood square underneath, and ignore the wood stacked against the wall (wood for kitchen and dining room baseboards, too long to store anywhere else!)
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