[Harp-L] Re: Harp-L Digest, Vol 109, Issue 54

Oh wow..................

I have an empathy with Brad as a manufacturer of harmonicas myself. In the development of any new product there are folk who push the possibilities of what can be achieved and there will always be an element of luck being on your side. I applaud Brad for trying to produce THE best that is possible. In commmercial life perfection is always difficult to achieve because people rarely want to pay the price perfection commands. So, somewhere along the line there is a compromise to be made between perfection and commercial viability, where you place that point is a difficult call. My guess is that Brad wanted perfection at all costs and that may have been his downfall. However, that doesn`t mean he shouldn`t have tried for the best. Let`s face it if Henry Ford et al hadn`t tried for perfection we would still all be driving Model T`s in 2012. Progress costs money but the world rarely wants to pay for it unless there is a payback (to investors) or queudos to egotists (I`ve got one before you have buddy..!!). So, whilst folk may have paid out hard cash, in the overall scheme of things, it will be a fraction of the cost that Brad has had to bear along with the anguish of letting good people go from employment and the knock on from that. Give the guy a break after all that`s what America is known for.... a second chance..!!

Brad, if you read this fire me an e.mail off line.

Best
Richard Smith (the English One)

----- Original Message ----- From: <harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2012 3:12 AM
Subject: Harp-L Digest, Vol 109, Issue 54


Send Harp-L mailing list submissions to
harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx

You can reach the person managing the list at
harp-l-owner@xxxxxxxxxx

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Harp-L digest..."


Today's Topics:

  1. Re: Update on Harrison Harps  (mik jagger)
  2. Harrison Harmonicas update (owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx)
  3. Re: Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Update on Harrison Harps (Scott Harris)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 19:35:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: mik jagger <harpomatic@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Update on Harrison Harps
To: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID:
<1347935735.3330.YahooMailNeo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

An honorable man is allowed to fail, but should be able to deal with consequences of failure. It's one thing to ask you to invest in the company & another is to buy a product. He could address people that believed in him, people he failed. Evidently there is plenty of good will even now, even among some people that got "shtooped". He could've cared to clear his name by at least addressing people, explaining that their good will is not naive or foolish - something like I tried, failed and will make it up to you + see, I'm not rich, not hiding in Abbodabbad" Isn't it (responsibility) is what you're supposed to tech your children? No wonder the world is where it is with this borrow and play mentality. I understand that may be the first day he was too crushed, too "not ready". But all this time passed and the man is hiding - friends, have some "ethico-philosophical" back bone, please! We still judge men by their actions, including how they handle
failure. Otherwise you propagate the crime.


This thread comes up quite a bit and I'm always interested in people's views.
Bottom line is that he took people's money, did not deliver the promised product
and then ran and hid. He may or may not feel bad (won't know until he comes out
of hiding), but that doesn't change what he did, or frankly make it any better.
It was wrong when he took the money, wrong when he ran away and remains wrong
now.


Scott Harris
President
scott@...
805 / 498-8718 x105
www.mustangmktg.com

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:09:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] Harrison Harmonicas update
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID: <33365.70.162.20.193.1347934194.squirrel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1

Thanks to Mike for posting the link to the article.  New information on
this topic is always welcomed.  I am afraid however that the followup
discussion is reiterative at best.  Nothing new being said here and none
of it is at all on topic.  It's also quite literally a meta discussion.
The reality is few if any of us have any insider information regarding the
failure of this company.  I think that's why the thread is so popular.  It
requires little beyond a pulse and a keyboard for participation.

What's striking to me is the absolut utter lack of comment from the actual
insiders.  The people who worked for Harrison have been completely
circumspect.

As always I welcome any new information on this topic but the moral
dissection has to stop.  I can already see what tomorrow will look like
for me if I let it continue.  Thanks harp-l-listowner


------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 20:33:30 -0700
From: Scott Harris <scott@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Update on Harrison Harps
To: EGS1217@xxxxxxx
Cc: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID: <473712BC-978B-4701-A22D-55FC93A0CB83@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Actually, I am 100% correct. He took money from customers. He did not deliver the promised harps, or pay back the money. He sent out a letter and then hid. If any of my statement is untrue, please let me know. The fact that he delivered some of what he accepted payment for does not justify what he did to the others. The rest of it is really just smoke.


Scott Harris
President
scott@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
805 / 498-8718  x105
www.mustangmktg.com

www.facebook.com/mustangmarketing






On Sep 17, 2012, at 7:43 PM, EGS1217@xxxxxxx wrote:

Not quite, Scott. The article leaves out a huge part of the story: that he DID fulfill the bulk of the orders - at least 1,500+ by my count (one of my two is numbered in the mid-1500 range which makes it logical that at least 1,500 others were produced and sold).


Further, it's been documented by others that he began the company originally by using his entire life savings AND borrowed a ton of other money and with grants from the City of Chicago and State of Illinois (if I remember it all correctly) for this innovative idea. He took all of the money he could manage to scrounge together to create this start-up company. It ended with him flat broke. Anyone who remotely feels he 'got rich' from this is entirely wrong.


Those of us who pre-ordered (putting $35 down apiece) were given t-shirts and a small amount off the total price. The money from the deposits was also to help pay for the 'start-up'. Harrison had to hire people and train them individually to build the harmonicas the way HE wanted them built: and he demanded perfection for the B-Radical.


Most of us getting in at the beginning knew full well that what we were doing was investing in the 'dream' as well as this innovative new harmonica with reeds never before seen. The handful of people who didn't seem to get it were the ones who expected their delivery 'yesterday' and who began hounding Harrison and his employees with phone calls and emails demanding immediate responses and satisfaction. Nothing Harrison did was good enough. As fast as they worked, it wasn't fast enough to please those few people....then when problems arose with the suppliers sending the wrong size screws, delays in delivery, etc. it became a bigger issue with falling behind. No money coming in from sold harps equals no way to pay staff, or to pay rent --a boomerang effect.


I personally know at least 2 very good people who worked their butts off for this company --one of whom has written that Brad Harrison was 'the best boss I ever had, and the best company I ever worked for'. This person is someone I KNOW for a fact is straight-up and straight arrow. That's more than good enough for me. He was there.


I got my own two B-Radicals a few months apart - a C and a Bb (because they built the C's first and the Bb's later), each with my name engraved exactly as I requested. I hadn't harangued or inundated them with emails demanding they cater to me anymore than I would do so to the top-drawer customizer who has had an order from me for two of his own harps for over a year now. When I get them, I'll get them and be thrilled and happy I did because I consider his work an art form. Putting pressure on him doesn't get them to me any faster and simply adds extra stress he doesn't need to his life--so why would I (or anyone) want to do that?


Frankly I don't care how much money one has or how much one can afford to spend on an instrument: respect is the name of the game. Treat people with respect --and one will (usually) get it back. Brad Harrison was being massively harassed by people who failed to recognize how difficult it was making the special harps he'd designed and poured his life into--and who treated him with zero respect. What did they expect to happen? He could either spend all of his time on the phone or on the computer answering their emails/catering to their egos, or spend his time physically making their harmonicas. Did they seriously expect him to hire a separate person --or forego sleep to hold their hands? Where would the extra monies that would entail come from?


IF it's true that there were 100 'disgruntled' customers at the end out of 1,500+ (my number could be extremely conservative--I don't know how many were sent out after I got mine) then I don't personally think that's so terrible. Some blog posts and articles make it seem he never filled orders. I'm here to say that's bull. He still succeeded in making reeds no one else has come close to developing--and the instrument he created is spectacular. I have my Bb sitting here right now and am practicing getting OB's with it. Sweeeet.


Vern: the B-Rad doesn't have plastic covers--they're a black/graphite looking metal but are edged along the back with that same material Chris Michalek made my Buddha harp combs from: Dymondwood, but in black as is the B-Rad comb. The tines are all beautifully rounded and precision made. Even after the covers are unscrewed they won't come off without utilizing the special 'clip'. It's a truly gorgeous instrument--quite the work of art. I've never seen (or played, OOTB) another diatonic to equal it.

Elizabeth

"Message: 11
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:30:23 -0700
From: Scott Harris <scott@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Update on Harrison Harps
To: Vern <jevern@xxxxxxx>
Cc: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>

This thread comes up quite a bit and I'm always interested in people's views. Bottom line is that he took people's money, did not deliver the promised product and then ran and hid. He may or may not feel bad (won't know until he comes out of hiding), but that doesn't change what he did, or frankly make it any better. It was wrong when he took the money, wrong when he ran away and remains wrong now.


Scott Harris"



End of Harp-L Digest, Vol 109, Issue 54
***************************************





++++ Message Scanning REF:152-avs4-1347939935 ++++



This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.