How to get a used harp looking its best?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I bought a used Style 30 with ebony finish last summer. I’m finally thinking about using it for gigs and such, and I might have my first opportunity to play with an orchestra this Christmas, so I’m thinking about how I can get the harp looking its best. It’s a beautiful harp, but cosmetically less than perfect. There are lots of dings, dents, scratches, smudges and scrapes, and there seems to be a layer of grime/dust that won’t come off.

I’ve been dusting regularly, but I haven’t tried anything more than that yet, as I’m worried about possibly damaging the finish somehow. I’ve read other posts about a cloth slightly damp with a water/dish soap mixture, but I’m wondering if that would work for a thorough deep cleaning? Some of the dust/dirt looks really caked on there. I’m sure the old owner took care of the harp, but she was the second owner, and the first owner played it in a smokey hotel lobby, so I imagine that’s where some of the grime came from. There are parts of the finish that are shiny and smooth, but other parts where it’s a bit dull and feels a little rough, and I don’t know if that’s something that I’ll be able to fix.

Anyway, what’s the best way to do a thorough cleaning of the harp? How would you recommend covering up the dings/dents/scratches? Do you think I should use a polish, and if so, do you have a recommendation as to which one? Thanks for your help.

[Gretchen Cover]

I would call Lyon Healy and ask for advice. Meantime, you can use a black Sharpie marker to hide discolored nicks, scratches etc.

[carl-swanson]

It’s trial and error: what any professional finisher would have to go through. You have to figure out what is on the instrument and what will remove it. Start with Dawn dishwashing detergent and see if that cleans it off. If not, try something stronger, like Fantastick. If detergents don’t remove it, then try paint thinner or turpentine. It won’t hurt the finish. Sometimes the only thing I can find to clean a finish is alcohol. But that can also soften the finish. If none of those things work, then you may have to get some fine finishing sandpaper, no courser than 600, and sand off the blemishes, then republish the finish. The finish on your harp is black with several coats of clear finish on top of it. When you sand, clear dust should be created. If it is black, then you are going through the black coat and will soon be down to bare wood.

[brook-boddie]

Ben, the Sharpie approach is definitely one option, but suggest that you try it first on the bottom of the harp or in a place that is not normally seen. I bought a used ebony harp once where the owner had used a Sharpie to cover up dings and blemishes, and the shade of black of the Sharpie was a good bit darker than the harp’s finish. It looked like a harp with measles! Good luck in your efforts to spruce it up.

[kreig-kitts]

Also bear in mind that dings that leap out to us, since we see our harps all day long from a few feet away, are often invisible to more casual observers from a greater distance. On stage with an orchestra, anything less than 6 inch occult symbols carved into the column won’t be noticeable. I was recently at a concert where the harpist apologized to me for all the dings on her ebony Style 30. From close up you could see a significant gash in the wood, but from the audience I couldn’t tell a thing.

[Anonymous]

Kreig – Looking at pictures and videos of myself playing, the harp looks pretty nice from farther away, so I think you’re right. There are a few spots on the column where you can see the dings, if the light is coming from the right angle, but as a whole, I don’t think people will notice. I think I’ll still work on cleaning it up, though, in case people come take a closer look.

Thanks for the great advice everyone. I never would have thought of a sharpie, it almost seems too easy! Good thing I have a few lying around. I’ll test that out to see how I like it. Thanks again. 🙂

[Tacye]

Before you reach for the sand paper (and maybe smelly solvents too) another thing to try is a ‘magic eraser’ sponge. As always, try in an inconspicuous place, but I find them excellent for removing all sorts of grime off many finishes, and have used them on several harps.

[barbara-brundage]

Be very careful with the magic eraser if you try it. It’s quite as abrasive as wet sanding with 400 gauge sandpaper or 0000 gauge steel wool and can easily remove the finish as well as the dirt.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. I didn’t have to resort to the sand paper or magic eraser; the water with dish soap did the trick! I just had to go over it a few times. There are a couple small spots where it didn’t work, but I’ll save trying the sandpaper/magic eraser/chemicals for another day when I’m feeling braver.

The sharpie also worked well. In natural sunlight, and even with the lights inside, the color matches very nicely. If I shine a light directly on it, it shows up, but nobody’s going to be looking that close. I also tried the polish from Lyon & Healy, and I’m very pleased. I’ll be sure to only use that rarely, though, since I can see that building up over time to make a mess.

Again, thanks for all of your help. You can still tell it’s been used and bumped around, but my harp looks really nice and clean now. My parents were even impressed when I showed them the difference. 🙂

[john-strand]

Hi – glad you got the top layer off – in your picture it looks like your harp has a gloss finish – once upon a time LH had a really great pink polishing/rubbing compound almost like a jewelers rouge – it was not a polish like furniture polish but it was great for putting on a really deep glossy shine after first using some fine grit auto rubbing compound – I tried to get a refill a couple years ago and they told me they didn’t have it anymore – last year I found some stuff at an auto supply store called “Mirror Glaze Professional Show Car Glaze” manufactured by Megular’s of Irvine California (800-347-5700) – it really restored a deep glossy shine – every 7 or 8 years, I do a major cosmetic overhaul along with a complete string change on both harps – take all the strings off, take the tuning pins out and chuck each one in an electric drill individually and polish both ends with some medium rubbing compound so they get all shiny again – also, when all the pins are out it is easy to really give a good thorough cleaning/polishing to the entire neck (yes, since all the strings are off at one time instead of changing just a few at a time it does take a while after restringing to get everything back up to pitch and stabilized – so you need to allow extra bench time for this) just don’t try to do anything more to the action/discs or brass plates than dust with a stiff brush – you will likely find that this show car glaze works better after you have used a rubbing compound to prep the finish – have fun and post a picture!

[leon-ducommun-dit-verron]

If it’s painted or varnished- have you tried t cut? Sounds mad but if it works on a cars painted surface it should work on the harp. Also if it’s black try the colour magic car polish- again it will lightly remove slight scratches and the colour could cover/ fill deeper ones.

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