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Thank you Charles! You are a wealth of information! I’ll download the tuner app you recommend today or tomorrow. I’m a bit sick today so I might wait until tomorrow.
The damage looks like it’s on the surface
There isn’t a dent or anything like that and I will definitely try the car wax trick on the carbon fiber pillar!Thank you VERY much Charles for your detailed and thoughtful response. I tried uploading a picture, but the file size was too big and I don’t know how to make it smaller. The damage is on the finish on the wood part of the neck – that burgundy lacquer Serranas come with. It doesn’t look like the wood underneath. It’s much too bright white to be wood, but won’t come off and I don’t want to be aggressive with it and make it worse. Dusty Strings can’t ship a tiny sample of lacquer due to shipping restrictions, but suggested getting a high-quality art marker that matches the color as closely as possible. I’m a portrait artist, so I’m fairly comfortable with doing that but before I tried it I wanted to check on here to see if anyone had a good solution they have tried that worked. There are also a few scratches on the carbon fiber pillar, but I can only see them in raking light. They’re there, but not hugely noticeable. Regardless, it’s all extremely frustrating.
As far as the levers and regulating them, I absolutely agree they should have been correct to begin with. I meant to bring a tuner to check and forgot it. Being so far from home I couldn’t go back and get one. This harp shop was in somebody’s home, not a music store. Anyway, I naively took it on faith that a new instrument would be fine so I didn’t worry about it once I realized I had left it behind. I should have asked to use one of theirs and I’m kicking myself. Also kicking myself for capitulating about “fixing” the leg which didn’t get fixed anyway. There is also a felt pad that goes around each leg and when he was messing with it, it fell off. When I got home I saw that it was missing and I contacted the seller who insisted he put it back on so it’s there – but it isn’t. I can clearly see both legs and there a pad on the one and not the other. I asked Dusty Strings if they would please send me one which I THINK they’re going to do. I ordered tools to adjust the levers along with a stand. Because those felt pads aren’t sold normally, the person I spoke with said he ought to be able to include one but no guarantees.
I also agree that if they’re just a bit off just to leave them alone. But there is at least one that is too off. The A above middle C. I have it tuned to E-flat major so when I tune that string to A flat and then engage the lever, every red light to the right of center is lit up and is just a single step or less from being into B-flat territory.
The strings are nylon. The lowest strings are wrapped, but that dead E is a nylon string. The rest sound fine with the levers engaged. It’s just that one. A few levers need regulating. They a bit off, changing the pitch by more than a half step, but that’s easily remedied. I just don’t know how to fix a dead sounding string/lever. They’re Loveland levers which some people aren’t fans of I know, but they seem fine mostly.
It’s on the neck just above the pillar
No one has been very helpful. My only option is to drive it all the way back which is another two days and a hotel room. I wish the picture uploaded. He put it so the front of the neck and pillar were facing down on the carpet and fiddled around with it for about 10 or 20 minutes, but it didn’t make the leg any better and I wasn’t worried about it anyway since I could get it out and wasn’t going to use it much regardless.
