About a year and a half ago I began to notice that my harp wasn’t staying in tune. At first it was so subtle that I just thought it must have been the weather that was messing with it. But it started getting worse and worse and I noticed that the bottom of the soundboard was separating from the base :O Talk about having a sick feeling in your stomach! My one comfort was that I still had my smaller Troubadour harp…but it just isn’t the same. I had visions of having a harp as a decoration in our flower garden.
My harp right before we started taking it apart 🙂
First I emailed Venus Harps (since they made it) but they wouldn’t tell me anything until I came to Chicago for them to look it over 😛 Next I emailed my former harp teacher and she referred me to ‘The Harp Doctor’. He was much more helpful and knew right off what the problem was.
Taking the strings off. At first I was going to go from bottom to top, but then thought better of it and decided to do one from each octave to evenly release the tension. I had loosened all of the strings awhile ago but thought it was better to be safe than sorry!
So Daddy and I took a trip to Ball State where the harp doctor was fixing harps. It was going to cost more than the harp was worth for me to pay him (the doctor) to fix it, so the purpose of our trip was so that the harp doctor could show Daddy how to fix my harp 😀
It was a bad hair day for my poor harp 😉
I listened intently as he began to go over what was necessary to take the harp apart and fix it. I didn’t want to forget anything. Daddy is wonderful with detail anyway, but I thought it couldn’t hurt to pay attention 😀
The more Mr. Wiley (the harp doctor) told Daddy, the less I was sure I wanted to watch Daddy take it apart when the time came 😀 One thing comforted me…Daddy is very careful and precise when it comes to things like this, so I knew I could trust him with my favorite harp. By the time he was finished though, I decided I was going to be there when he did all of this so that I could take pictures and see how this thing works 😀
D is for Daddy…super-wonderful-harp-fixer-Daddy that is 😀 This is actually the troublesome piece that was coming unglued…literally. It is at the inside base of the harp and is what everything glues and screws into.
Looking into the belly of the whale…er…harp 😀
Blowing out some of the dust and dirt from the soundboard.
The harp isn’t done yet, so I’ll definitely be posting more pictures on the progress of the harp 🙂 He did get the piece glued back in and now we’re letting it cure good and long…as in, a week at least 🙂 It doesn’t have to cure that long but we decided the longer the better. I’m not sure how many pounds of pressure is put on that piece, but I know it’s a bunch!
And thus is the beginning of the repairing of the harp 😀
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I’m SO glad you’re able to fix it!!!! That would have been AWFUL if you couldn’t 🙂 It’s a lovely harp 🙂
Me too, Rachel! Thank you! It’s definitely my favorite of the two that I have 🙂
BTW – this reminded me that you had asked if I still had my rental harp. No, I don’t, but am praying that the Lord would provide one we could buy. 😉
Oh…that’s sad! I’ll be praying he does provide one 🙂 He provided my first one when Daddy was out of work…so I know He can 😉
I am glad you have it fixed! what happened to the pedal harp? 😉
Hey Hope! I don’t have a pedal harp, but the one that is getting fixed is my bigger one. It looks kind of like a pedal harp…withouth the pedals 😀
Is this the harp you played on while we were there, Jessica? It’s a beautiful harp!
Thanks Abbie! That one was actually my ‘little harp’ 😀 This one has been sitting back in the living room for a while 😀
Yikes! It looks a little overwhelming all taken apart like that! I hope you are able to get it fixed and put together again soon! 🙂 It is a beautiful harp.
Thanks, Karen! We got the piece glued back in and now Daddy is working on fixing all my scratches and dents on the column. I’m starting to get antsy to play it 😀 -Jessica