How to paint on harp?

[judy-wong]

Hello harpists, i bought a second hand Salvi harp recently and want to paint on the soundboard. Do you have any idea what kind of paint i should use or anything i should pay attention to? Thank you.

[kreig-kitts]

Eek. I’d be afraid to try it, unless it was a harp on its last leg anyway or was no longer in playing condition.

I wonder if there is a way to transfer hand drawings onto a static decal, so it would be removable and wouldn’t directly touch the board. Something like this perhaps, though I’m off-the-cuff Googling. http://www.texascraft.com/hps/home.php?cat=253 Maybe a good art or printing supply store would have ideas. It would need to be flexible, waterproof, and not prone to chipping or gathering dirt. Somebody who makes harps might have other thoughts.

[Leslie Jabara]

Pamela Brunner used to do the painting on Heartland Harps when they built wood harps. You may want to check with her.

You could also try a decal (here’s one place that sells them: http://www.harpdecals.com/) or you could get some decal paper and paint on that. The great thing about decals would be the fact you could change them when you tire of the design!

Good luck!

[jessica-wolff]

Pamela also said that you can’t do the painting on a used harp. I imagine that’s because you’d have to remove any finish from the soundboard.

I loved some of her artwork, especially the ivy.

[Tacye]

The Salvis I know have polyurethane varnish which has the advantage of being resistant to all sorts of solvents.

[eliza-morrison]

A harp builder told me that the harp would have to be dismantled to re-paint the soundboard. Sounds pretty daunting.

[patricia-jaeger]

Many years ago I bought a harp soundboard decal that was offered for sale by Carl Swanson. Perhaps those are still available. Along with the decal came directions for applying it.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

The first pedal harp I ever played on was a Washburn Lyon & Healy owned by Minneapolis Public Schools. It had been repainted with official colors, ie. pea-soup green and drab brown. It looked AND SOUNDED hideous. I wonder whatever became of it.

[david-crabtree]

There are removable decals that can be put on and changed whenever you like and will not mark the harp.

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