Let’s first of all distinguish between stains and finishes. A stain simply colors the wood, a finish is a hard coating to protect it. The maker may offer you a choice on stains but will usually apply the finish they prefer. Of course if you make the harp yourself choose what you prefer.

The most common finishes are lacquer, rubbed oil, and polyurethane varnish. Lacquer dries fast, is very hard and high gloss but the fumes are toxic. A rubbed oil such as Tru-oil also dries quickly and is easy to fix if you missed a scratch from sanding. Polyurethanes are a good choice if you are not into finishing (an art in itself) but may dull the tone if used on a solid wood sound board. Polys come in gloss, semi-gloss and satin; they are also available as gels and may incorporate a stain as well.

Some harp makers offer a choice on stains (if any) but most if not all will use the finish that they prefer. The finish provides very little if any additional strength unless it is applied in many heavy coats, which is obviously not what you want on the sound board.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Biagio.

Thanks, Biagio, for all that wonderful info! You do such a nice job on all those harps you build.

Nicbo, I will try to answer this in regard to the Camac Egerie harp finish choices. I prefer the Natural Maple, since it shows up the high quality of the wood that Camac uses in their harps. In my Atlantide, it is “curly maple,” or “tiger maple,” and is CHOICE wood, extremely beautiful. Maple is used where it shows, and beech is used for strength, like in the neck and body of the harp. Where the wood is laminated together, usually in beech, there is always a layer of choice maple on the outside, and many of the harp’s parts are actually solid maple, carved to perfection. The soundboard is spruce, there again, made of aged wood which has a profound and very resonant tone.

You may prefer the other finishes, and I particularly like the black–it is very elegant! My first Lyon and Healy pedal harp was black, and I cannot really tell whether any of these different finishes affects the tone very much. To each his own, I always say–much of it is a matter of personal taste.

I hope this helps. Others here will have their own personal preferences, of course–that is why there are so many choices in harps out there!

Cheers and best wishes,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

Hi Nicbo and thank you Balfour,

All that stuff about stains and finish: it’s information you would find most likely in a wood working site or books. Harp makers would rather talk about how their instruments sound, not surprisingly!

I started making musical instruments just for fun and to pass the time during winter when living in a cabin in the Blue Ridge mountains, as many do there: usually fiddles, banjos dulcimers etc. Then one day tried a harp and got hooked and started doing them for myself and for friends and acquaintances. At one time considered doing it full time but age and health dissuaded me LOL. But the craft still fascinates me so I know a lot of harp makers – they are among the nicest and most generous people you would ever want to meet!

Hi Nicbo!

Did you ever decide on the finish? It is so exciting to order a new harp!

Best to you,
Balfour