[Harp-L] The State of Buddha Harps?

[Mike Fugazzi <mikefugazzi@xxxxxxxxx>]

I had a couple of people contact me wondering what is going to happen to the
incomplete orders from Buddha Harps now that Chris has passed.  I want to be
clear that I am not inquiring about anything for myself, as I had nothing of
great value on order.

That being said, someone contacted me with an incomplete, but fully paid,
order for 12 custom Manji.  How should he and others proceed - especially
with large amounts of money involved?  I was hoping that since Chris was
originally from MN, the funeral and such might be here, but is appears to be
in AZ.

While I could and would certainly be willing to help with some of the issue
of organizing materials from where he left off, going through orders....I am
sure I'll be of little value in MN.

Chris did a lot of fantastic things on a number of harps/brands and I know
many players sent him money, some of it in the thousands, to own a piece of
his art.  Thoughts?  How does this discussed without being inconsiderate,
rude, out of line???

As a bit of a side note, I studied a lot with Chris to work on creating
great overblow harps.  I would entertain customizing ob harps for others,
but would really limit my focus to Hohner harps like the Golden Melody,
Marine Band Deluxe, and Crossover.  He was going to start teaching me how he
works on Manji harps after Christmas, but my knowledge in that area is
limit.  I would not entertain working on harps beyond these.

Really, my only help is to the niche wanting to overbend on ET harmonicas.
I don't make combs, obviously.  I am willing to use my skill set to help
those with orders, etc, but obviously with the disclaimer that 1.) they
aren't going to be "Buddha" harps 2.) I am doing so as an independent and
not a Buddha Guild builder 3.) my prices, workload, and other variables will
have to be different.

While I know how to work on stock Marine Bands and such, due to the
real-world, I would want to work on mostly reeds and not drilling plates,
combs, etc.

I am only mentioning this now as I know there was a lot of demand and people
planning on continuing to work with him in the future.  I am not looking to
start a business or new job, but am hoping I can be of some help to those in
need. I also think the work and effort and love involved in working on harps
will help me through the loss of a very close friend.

While I have no idea what the future holds, I am, again, not looking to make
a ton of money or exploit the situation.  I just have been bombarded with
emails about the state of Buddha harps and my availability to tweak harps in
the future.  I can't do all the work he did with the level of awesomeness he
did, BUT I know from our conversations at SPAH that I can put together an
awesome overblow harp and he liked what I was doing.


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Mike Fugazzi
vocals/harmonica
http://www.mikefugazzi.com
Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/MikeFugazziMusic>
VHT Special 6 Amp for Harmonica
Blog<http://www.playingtheharmonica.blogspot.com/>