Harp repair, restoration, making and everything else harpy.
A window into what goes on behind the scenes at the Niebisch and Tree workshop. From making new harps to servicing and all types of repairs. Working on all types of harps from early Erard grecians to modern Horgachers.
To find out more about us you can visit our website www.niebischandtree.com give us a ring on 01494 913 686 email at ntharps@outlook.com or even pop in to see us at our workshop in High Wycombe.
I recently purchased an Aoyama 47A, which has a very nice sound. Although it’s 30 years old and shows some rippling, it's not very pronounced. However, from the inside, I noticed a crack that extends about 3/4 of the way across the soundboard on the side where it was originally glued down, with a gap of up to 3mm. Would filling this gap from the inside using a syringe and System Three T-88 high-quality 2-component epoxy help to prolong the working life of the harp? If so, should I do it with the strings lightly relaxed or with no tension at all? Thanks a lot, Paul
Hi, unfortunately it won't help much. Without proper surface preparation the resin won't form a strong bond to the wood. It shouldn't have any adverse effects if you did want to give it a go. Releasing the tension will allow the soundboard to relax down a little and hopefully the resin will hold it like that for a while at least.
@@alextreeharpsi Will report the resuls. It's very delicate process. I got pen micro dremmel to clean old glue, endoscopic camera, carbon nanotube filter for epoxy, West system 105 epoxy. I hope that little bit of epoxy won't change sound much.I will go for one side first with half relaxed strings, using syringe and camera. It's extended soundboard so access is bad. Wish me luck. And than you for you honest answer
Thanks so much for sharing. Just tried this on a string replacement, and I must say I like it much more than the rabbit ear method I’ve been using till now.
Great video, especially for a tricky thing to show like a knot. It's slightly different to how I do mine but probably a bit more straightforward. I'll be sure to share this with my customers
Hey my name is Johnny Flynn (the screenhandle is because my daughter shares the RU-vid account with me), but I’m based out of Washington DC in the US and have a quick question about harp maintenance/repair. However, I don’t know if the comments section on here is the most appropriate of possible mediums for transmitting those questions.
Thanks for sharing! I’m curious how the glue-up process is for the strips of soundboard wood. Do you lay them flat and weigh it all down with something and clamp them lengthwise? Or clamp the lines where the pieces meet?
Yep that's the one, tend to glue everything together in one or two rounds, using sash clamps and some big vices balanced on top to stop everything springing up.
I had an Arianna from 2002 and there were several places on the soundboard where it had three layers to increase the thickness in strategic areas which I assume was done to enhance specific registers. It definitely had an effect as my teacher remarked on how strong the mid rage was on it compared to her L&H Style 23 gold and that was when I only had it a few days after I bought it new. Do you ever see any L&H Salzedos? I know there was one at Holywell Music back in around 2013 and I doubt there were many before or after that for sale here which is a shame given how popular they are in the US and mainland Europe.
I think you also had a harp with a good sound as I've seen harps with the special harmonic bars that sound very bland. Don't see many salzedos here but plenty when I go for servicing trips to Norway.
Hi there, Can you please do this type of video when you have an Aoyama pedal harp? I would love to know more about them compared to LH or Salvi. These types of in depth info from a harp tech/harp builder is so so precious we probably can't get anywhere else. So please do one when you have an Aoyama. Thank you
I think it's about 35 years old (not great on salvi serial numbers). Not sure of the cause but it has cracked right through under the last arbour. It's likely that it took a knock in the past but the owner didn't notice the damage at the time.
I'm really surprised that anyone was willing to do this kind of extreme repair work -- very happy to see such a lovely harp back to its music-making state!
Did you carbon fibre reinforce this neck? If that's the new neck for Alex's straight soundboard Obermeyer, I noticed the two dark layers on the inside edge of the neck a few weeks back, only the light was poor so I couldn't see it clearly enough.
