Restoration notes from Dwight

David,

This looks like just a case of glue seam separation. The tension on a harp arm always pulls to the left, so that's where it began. First thing you need to do is back off on the string tension by about 40 to 50%, otherwise the damage will just keep going.

Any crafty furniture repair woodworker should be able to fix this for you. Just get some good quality multi-purpose glue and a few clamps. Inject glue into all the open cracks, then pull and clamp everything back together. Use glue that has at least a 20 minute working time before it begins to set up. You can use a shorter set time, in which case you'd need to do one section at a time. It will make little difference which section is worked on first. Just make sure the crack is glued, pulled together and fully closed before it gets clamped.

To insure the block separation at the top rollover of the arm heel stays closed, it won't hurt anything to drill and countersink a long screw across the joint where the two pieces of wood come together. Drill a pilot hole first, then sink the wood threaded screw at a 45 degree angle, front to back, across the lateral line where the two pieces of wood are joined. The screw should be 1.5 to 2" long, #8 to #10, inserted a little toward the back side, where the larger crack separation has come open. You'll have to adjust the position and angle of the screw so as to miss any hardware.

You can then fill the recessed screw head with epoxy and paint over the repair. Where the larger carbon fiber separation has occurred near the soundbox at the top, once glued, clamped and dry, then two or three small flat head screws can be inserted through the outer surface fiber sheet into the hardwood heel. This will insure that this glued area never comes apart again. The smaller screws alone would probably hold everything together. I mentioned adding the larger screw on top, just for extra structural support. Once all this has been done and finish painted, you'll hardly be able to see that a repair was ever made.

But like I said, any crafty type person should be able to do this for you. Shipping harps these days can be very expensive (easily $600.00 for the round trip), so it is always best to do things locally when possible.

Due to age and health issues we sold the harps business in late 2018 and no longer do any manufacturing or repairs at all. Hope this little email tutorial helps. Please get back to me if you have other questions.