Harmonium Musical Instrument, BINA No. 8, 7 Stops, 3 1/4 Octaves, Coupler, Tuned To A400, Double Reed, Natural Color, Book, Nylon Bag (PDI-DJF)

I'll update when the replacement arrives. Some broken wood on the cabinet and the keys are out of place. The instrument was securely wrapped; don't know what happened but regrettably I had to return it. The keys are plastic; this is no heirloom. Still, I hope to recommend it in a few weeks.

Harmoniums are handmade and fragile instruments not immune to the jostling that takes place in shipping. I was prepared to send back to Amazon if there were problems and sure enough when I opened the box, the keys were stiff, wires were popped and some moulding was cracked and things were shoddy. I myself have always wanted a harmonium because I love the sound of the instrument. I have never gotten a chance to own one, but have seen many musicians playing them. I considered sending the instrument back, and would have if the keys and parts were really broken rather than in just disarray. I'm mildly handy with a screwdriver and I decided to take the harmonium apart and straighten things out...This was the best decision I could have made. It took about half an hour, and in the meantime, I learned how harmoniums work and what all the keys are for and saw them for what they were, beautiful and delicate and altogether a very precious and intuitively human instrument. I imagined the craftspeople cutting each key and assembling each part, finishing each piece of wood and all the details, and you could see the labor involved in crafting the harmonium as it is a fairly simple and straightforward design. I did have to widen some of the holes by pushing an awl through some of the stiff keys so that it moved up and down easier-- nothing too difficult. When I put it back together, it sang so clear. The bellows and tones all rang true, and every note pleased me.I would recommend that Bina make an instruction guide on how to fix for those who might be less capable than I, when receiving an instrument that has been overly jostled.Because of the cost of this instrument, I would never have purchased if not for Amazon's return policy, and whatever risk I felt of having spent $400+ on an instrument I knew very little about, the cost was well worth it simply because I got to learn and appreciate the mechanics of this in a way that was more educational rather than frustrating or anxiety inducing.

thumbs up.