Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. We ship overseas. Our website does a fairly decent job of calculating shipping fees. You can add items to your shoppint cart and view your cart to estimate shipping. However, due to the wide variety of our products, the many possible combinations, and various foreign shipping requirements, our website may not be able to retrieve a quote. If that is the case, please contact us for a shipping quote.

There are three common issues with our digital downloads.

1. You can't find the email with the download link. It is likely in your spam folder. Or you entered your email address incorrectly.

2. You downloaded the file but can't find it. The default setting on most browsers is to download the file to the downloads folder. Check that folder. If is isn't there, check the settings on your browser to find out where the files are going.

3. You downloaded the file on an iPad and cant' access the file. Most of our digital downloads are zipped files (.zip). This means the file has to be unzipped to make use of the files. You can unzip the files on Windows PCs and Mac Desktops simply by double clicking on the file. Click here to learn about unzipping files on your iPhone or iPad.

Yes. We do rent harps. But we only rent harps locally. We DO NOT rent harps out of state. To learn more, check out our Harp Rental Page.

Yes. Qualifed buyers may finance a harp with us. Click here for details on our financing program.

Just about anybody can build an instrument from a kit! Your attitude is the most important factor. If you are able to follow instructions, take your time, and pay attention to detail - we guarantee you can build one of our instruments from a kit. We are so confident that you can build our instruments that we give you a one year return period on our kits. If, at any time during that year, you decide the project is not for you, you can return the kit to us for a refund or pay us to finish the project. (See our warranty for more details.).

We have designed our musical instrument kits to be built by home hobbyists with minimal tools. We have done the major cutting and fitting for you at the factory. Your job consists mainly of assembly - gluing, clamping, trimming, sanding, finishing, and installing hardware and strings.

Most of our kits can be built with basic hand tools.

You'll want to have:

• Hammer
• Files
• Wire Cutter
• Screwdriver
• Pliers
• A few clamps
• Sandpaper

Some electric hand tools, while not necessary, can really speed up the process.

• Reversing electric hand drill
• Electric palm sander
• Jig-saw
• Router

The best way to get a good understanding of what is involved in building one of our musical instrument kits is to download and read through the assembly instructions. This will give you a good overall picture and help you determine if you have the resources to make one of our instruments. You'll find a link to download the assembly instructions on each kit's product page.

There is a common misconception that a kit-built instrument is inferior to a factory-made instrument. We receive countless testimonials that contradict this assumption. Many of us at Musicmakers are musicians and we know how important it is to have an instrument that sounds great. We design and build our instrument kits with quality sound in mind. While some kit builders may not have the skills required to make an instrument look as refined as a factory-built instrument, it will still sound excellent.

Not much! We've had many customers assembly kits in their dining room! It's nice to have a solid table or workbench about 3 feet X 5 feet in size. A folding 'church table' works fine. Set it up in a place where sawdust will not be objectionable or have a shop vac handy. The space should be kept at room temperature for proper drying of glue and finish

Absolutley. We have been helping people build musical intruments for over 40 years and have talked people through almost every imaginable problem. You can call the shop during business hours (651-439-9120) or send an email anytime.

Our kits include all of the pre-cut wood parts, all of the necessary hardware, a complete set of strings, a tuning wrench, and detailed assembly instructions.

You will provide your own tools, woodworking glue, and varnish.

Yes. While there is some variation in the spacing of our harps and we list our harps as having narrow, medium, and wide spacing - the differences are very slight and all of the spacing on our harps would be considered concert spacing.

It typically takes us 5-7 weeks to build your harp for you.

All of our finished harps come with Camac Levers. We can install Loveland levers instead if you prefer.

No. Sharping levers are not included with our harp kits for a few reasons:

Sharping levers are not actually installed until the harp is fully assembled, finished, and strung so there it is not necessary to buy the levers when you buy the kit. You can build the harp and play it for 5 years and install levers at that time if you wish.

Sharping levers aren't strictly necessary for beginning harpists as most beginning music does not require the use of sharping levers.

By not including sharping levers, this gives kit builders the option to spread the costs out over time.