I have a Clark Harp

[robert-ruskamp]

I was recently given a Clark model A, serial number 1603. It’s in excellent condition. Re-stringing it and about to play it!

[patedwards]

hi I have a clark harp and have 2 missing blades middle c and g from the mid section have you found a source for missing blades thanks pat

[tess]

I’m reviving this old thread because I’ve just acquired a Clark harp at an estate sale (Model A, serial number 1450, in case Linda Kaiser is still looking for serial numbers).

The harp is missing its taborette/stand, all the remaining strings need replacing, and someone has painted the whole thing (soundboard included) black. Otherwise, it’s in pretty good shape – all the blades are there, and it seems pretty sound structurally. There are two horizontal cracks on the soundboard, but they’re narrow and seem stable (and I don’t think they go all the way through).

Any tips for restoring it? The priority is to get it in playable condition, which should only require strings. I’ve contacted Markwood Strings about getting a whole new set of strings for it. Is it worth trying to get the black paint off? In places where it’s chipping, it looks like it used to be green, but there’s raw wood showing through too. The blades, tuning pins, and bridge pins are pretty grimy. Are they brass? Should I attempt to polish them?

[Biagio]

Hi Tess,

A fully restored Clark in excellent condition is worth about $4,000 +/- so that’s one thing to think about: you would have to strip the black paint (perhaps discovering a problem or three), remove and polish all the hardware (possibly breaking a blade or two in the process), refinish and reapply the stencils, and of course restring.

Personal opinion: they are cute little harps but if it were me I would not go through all that trouble – you are looking at up to $1000 or more for the restoration by a luthier. Not to mention recreating the table for which somw of the hardware is very hard to find.

If it were me, I’d just clean it up, replace those old blades with Camac or Truitt levers, and both pegs (#4s) and pins (use threaded hex heads from Dusty) and a really good string set. I would then have an excellent 31 string…but not a genuine Clark of course.

Best wishes,
Biagio

[laurieblanchard]

Hi! I have an Clark Irish Harp. It’s very confusing because it is a

model: X G
No. 110

Can anyone tell me any information about whether it was made by Clark or Lyon and Healy and how to figure out what year it was made??

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

[laurieblanchard]

Here is a picture of the Irish Clark harp model number.

[John Leclerc]

If your trying to post a picture you have to resize the picture file size, max allowed is 512KB , I do that using PhotoShop, kind of a hassle , but that’s what I have to do , maybe there’s a easier way?

My son brought home a badly damaged Clark harp , I plan on fixing it in the future, good to see there’s information on them here!

[balfour-knight]

John, you will be an expert by the time you rebuild that Clark harp, after tackling the L&H 85P pedal harp! Good luck!

[Suzanne Bonnen]

I just acquired a vintage Clark harp, I was looking the Clark harps up online and found this discussion. My Clark harp serial number is 2660. The blade levers were replaced. That explains the missing levers on all E and A strings. They might be the Loveland levers. The harp has a very bright sound with the Savarez Harp strings, I’m wondering what type of strings it had originally. With a harp this old it is probably important to have the lightest gauge strings? I just ordered
Linda Pembroke Kaiser’s book Pulling Strings I am looking forward to reading about the Harps.

[balfour-knight]

Hi Suzanne–you do not say where you are located–if USA, you could get in touch with Vermont Strings to see if they could supply strings like the harp would have had originally.

John, if you read this, how is your Clark harp restoration coming along?

Best wishes, everyone!
Balfour

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