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Repairing Damage
A bit of incident occurred this evening. I stupidly left my harp where it though it would be out of the way behind the door(The room doesn’t have a huge amount of space so i put it where i thought we would have the least foot traffic.). I normally put it away when not playing it but i had I often play it after work to destress and had been on it not long before. While I did dinner my daughter entered the room not realizing my harp was in the room used full force to push the door open the rest of the way which knocked the harp over which went into a computer monitor which also went over into a tub of coconut oil(which i had left there from when i used it to moisturize my daughters hair earlier in the day) which was liquid probably because it was near the computer. This went flying and coated the floor, half a wall and the harp in oil.
I now have 2 broken levers(a couple of other look slightly bent), one bent lever is missing a pin that wont stay in now, a chip and a very oily harp. It is a carmac dhc 36 electro acoustic harp. I’m sort of not sure where to start with repairing it. Is it something the average Joe can do or is it a specialist repair job.
Also i have wiped most of the oil off as best i can and bar a little bit of tuning needed it seems to sound fine both when amplified and just listening to the strings naturally. Is the oil anything to worry about? It was just pure coconut oil. Anything else I need to check?
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4 Replies
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I’m so sorry that happened!
Does the harp still feel oily? Or does it feel clean at this point? If still oily, I would keep gently rubbing it with a soft dry cloth. I don’t think it’s too worrisome, but if someone else knows please correct me!
I would also reach out to the harp makers for suggestions on levers for purchase for your particular harp. Do you have a warranty on your harp? I don’t know if it would cover this, but it’s worth looking into! Do you know if there’s a harp repair near you? They may know how to fix your levers that still have pins.
Hope this helps a little! Sorry I don’t have more info!
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Thanks for your response @camilla.p it was actually quite helpful, you suggested reaching out to the harp makers so i went on carmacs site and they actually have a video showing you how to replace a lever they also sell a lever replacement kit! Its only 30 euros and only 4.50 if i want to try and use my own tools, so less than i thought it would be. I don’t think that would sort the bottom A lever where the pin is missing but I could try and see if i can get the pin in a new lever.
I will buy some and let you know how i get on.
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So, the repair kit came and I was able to replace the broken levers. Unfortunately on the couple that the metal section the lever sits in was bent are still not quite right. One is nearly there but the pitch change is not quite right it not quite half a step. There was nothing in the kit to replace that bit. I will need to contact Camac and see if there is a way to acquire those bits. It is progress though I have one lever that is back to normal and the other one is easier to use if i ham happy to tune it slightly,
I thought I might try and document the process in case it might help any one else, as there didn’t seem to be may videos showing the process of changing a lever and the one I found was different to the set up on my harp.
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Glad to see that things are at least moving in the right direction, @donald.barron ! Hopefully Camac will be able to give you a hand with getting the parts you need. Keep us posted!
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