Fed up with purchasing harps from the US, trying to take advantage of the pound/dollar exchange rate, only to find the harps are more useless than the Pope’s knackers? I was! (See my San Francisco experience – recently repeated in New York).
Ever bought a new harp from your local music store, only to find it flats out after a week or two? And the store won’t exchange it. I used to fequently.
So I finally decided to swing the other way and splash out on a couple of Steve Weston’s customised classic Marine Bands – and enjoy all the personal service that comes with it. Now there’s no turning back!
Steve strips each harp down and seals the pear wood comb for moisture resistance. Then he drills and screws everything back together, which means you can replace the reed plates later if you need to. Finally he checks the tuning and services the harp. And there you have it – all for a modest £35 plus postage.
Unlike the US experience mentioned above, any hint of a problem and you ship your harp right back for Steve to check. My first two harps were slightly out on the the 1-4 draw octave, possibly as a result of my breathing technique. I rang Steve and demonstrated over the phone. He was totally supportive. No questions asked – if I sent them straight back, he would correct the reed response straight away. Which is exactly what he did.
Now that’s what I call good service and great value for money. You can check West Weston’s harp page by clicking right here. You can visit West Weston’s main music page by clicking here.
