Hi all

I'm getting my harp serviced at the moment, as I have had it a year, there are some strange buzzings in the top octaves, and when played in C major the sharps and flats are all a few cents out. I'll talk more of my servicing experience later, but thought I'd throw a few questions out to you guys.

What do you think a full service costs?
Do you think a service should be annually, or just when the harp needs it?
Should servicing come under the warranty?
Who do you normally get to service it?

For non-harp owners, do you need to service your instruments regularly? If so, please tell us of your experiences!

My violin doesn't need a service as such, but it does have an annual check-up with a very good local luthier who works from home and doesn't charge VAT!

Likewise, if something starts buzzing and I can't work out what's causing it, I take it to my local luthier (as above) and get him to sort it out for me.

Most general maintenance and other routine checks I do myself.

my violin gets checked once a year, or whenever it makes strange buzzing sounds etc. The cost depends on whats wrong

I just take my violin a music store when there is a problem and it usually gets fixed.

For example a week or so ago i needed a new a string so I went to a music store and the guy sold me one and fitted for me.

A few months back my violin's g peg wa slipping a lot so I took it to a music sotre and got some peg paste applied to it and taht sorted the problem out.

What I am getting at is that you only need to take your harp to a luthier when it needs something done that you can't do yourself, such as replace a string or whatever.

Hmm, I think a pedal harp and a violin are very different instruments, so disagree with that comment. A pedal harp has a very complex internal mechanism for changing strings to sharp and flat. These need adjusting yearly, and it's a fairly big job. Add to that, the felts on the pedals wear out, and can change the intonation a few cents either way on every string. Also, the pegs can buzz, and the strings, while not ready to break, can be so frayed as to need replacing. So all in all, I reckon an annual service for a harp is essential!

I can totally understand how instruments with less complex mechanisms may not need such a thorough service though.

i disagree. with my violin, there could well be a problem (ie glue coming unstuck) that although is not yet noticable is easier to fix before it becomes a big problem. They also have ways of cleaning instruments that improves the tone significantly. I really notice the difference when my violins been serviced.
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maya3 tell me about how they impve tone. i would sure like that to occur on my violin!

Hi Shaolin_monkey, how are you? We haven't spoken in a while
I actually know a few answers to these questions from asking them all professionals when I was interested!
How often you get a harp serviced depends on how much you play it? For example if you are a professional you must get it serviced at least once a year, however if you only practise about an hour a day, you may only need to get it serviced every 2 years and if you hardly ever play (which hopefully doesn't apply to anyone ) I think the most you can wait is 3 years.
Who are you getting to service your harp? All the major companies do it - Pilgrim harps, Salvi, Holywell Music in London, also Niebisch and Tree are apparantly very good. Also, the companies drive around the country and if they happen to be in your area then you don't need to drag your harp all the way to wherever they are based.
I can't remember how much they said a basic service costs, it really depends on how much needs doing. If it's just changing the pedal felts etc. then, off the top of my head, I would say roughly £100-£250...
Servicing SHOULD come under the warranty (but then again, I think everything should come under that ) I don't think it does though... I think its just like free parts if anything majorly goes wrong. I can't remeber what type of harp you have. Is it Camac? How long is their warranty? Salvi's is 5 years I think.

Hope some of this helps, I'm sure Erard will be along soon to correct me if I'm wrong
I REALLY need to get my harp fine tuned actually, any idea how much that cost?



No, Shaolin_monkey is right - it needs serviced regularly, not just if something goes wrong

I don't quite know how they did it, but there was a definate improvement afterwars. Something to do with cleaning my strings and a dust ball inside my violin which made the sound very muffled.
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Pedal harps really need their first service at about 1 year from new as everything will be bedding in and settling down- this is sometimes incuded in the purchase price as the manufacturers don't want new harps sounding bad or wearing out too fast in the warranty period. After that it depends and worn pedal felts, dodgy regulation or stray clicks are the most blatant signs that attention is needed- when you are getting it serviced you might ask to have it explained how to tell when your pedal rods are the wrong length too(mostly because of pedal felt packing together, which is harder to identify than the overmotion of too short rods). It is a good idea to examine the thing every 6 months or so for anything developing slowly which may need attention and not have been noticed in normal playing. I mostly service mine myself which is fairly uncommon, so do little tweaks when needed rather than saving them up for a big service occasionally. Standard advice is every 1 to 4 years depending on you and the harp (and if you are talking to the servicers or lackadasical harpists!), it also depends on if you are happy to change your base wires yourself or need to coincide that with a service.