This is a harp that I had accidentally knocked over while recovering from Covid and was still too weak to really move around well. The harp hit a Victorian roll top desk and cracked the ornate pillar shield with the Celtic knot abalone inlay fracturing along the edge, the bubinga wood stave back separated at the back and along the left side all the way to the top, and the entire sound box rotated off its base to the right.

Months later I attempted to repair the damage with some shims, wood putty and MinWax gel stain but the force of the harp under tension continued to pull the soundbox apart. In July I shipped it back to Triplett’s.

Moments after impact… outrageous damage to my harp… never again!!

Rotated soundbox… the repair work features structural reinforcements to insure this cannot happen again!

I felt sick when George picked up my harp (and me) off the floor and I saw this… pillar shield crack… shudders!

You would never know it was damaged!!

The harp looks and plays like brand new!!

Amazing repair work from the shops of Triplett Harps!!

Moral of the story: never practice your instrument when you’re really, really sick or recovering and can just barely move around (uncoordinated). Very bad things can happen. Maybe stay in bed with a small lap harp?

This beautiful harp will not be making her grand re-appearance at my church just yet… we’ve decided to hold off until next May when our heating season is over. We’ll be rearranging some of our church furniture at that time so Luna harp can reside in our sanctuary throughout the warm spring and summer months right into autumn, eliminating the transportation piece from my house to church each Sunday (my church is literally 800 feet from my house!). Less worry about bumps, loading into the car and inclement weather from week to week.

My harp family portrait:
Triplett Luna stands tall in the middle, with Stoney End Esabelle to her right, Argent Fox “Forest” in front and my Paraguayan harp in back.

The other announcement is I’ve placed an order with Stoney End Harps for my second harp from them! Rebecca is a cross-strung floor harp in maple, a big sister to Esabelle, but with nylon strings. This harp will be what I call “full chromatic”, that is, all sharps and flats available, just as on a piano keyboard.

I will probably call her “Rebekah”.

This large x-harp will allow me to pursue the classical concert literature more in depth. A historic Pleyel cross-strung harp is a bit out of my pocket book’s reach and to the best of my knowledge, neither Lyon & Healy nor Salvi have ever built a concert pedal grand harp for lefties (the strings on the opposite side of the neck). My Triplett Luna is also a custom-built lefty harp.

I’ve played Esabelle, my wire cross-strung lap harp for ten years now and so I’ve researched the topic of x-harps quite a bit. Over the years I’ve built up a collection of cross-strung books on classical music, one for the Pleyel cross-strung harp written in French, with progressive lessons and repertoire. Another goes into the history of the instrument, both in the 19th century European music conservatories and its rebirth in America as an affordable folk harp of varying sizes.

Update – June 2025 –

Strings are in short supply and the bottom-most strings for my Rebekah harp are not yet available. Two string makers have gone out of business, leaving one small family business to be the supplier to the U.S. folk harp builders. Rebekah is more or less complete, but still waiting for her bass strings. I don’t know when that will happen.

My 15 year old Triplett Luna wire harp made the 3,000+ miles trip from Vermont to San Luis Obispo, California in July, back to the workshops of Triplett Harps for a much-needed rebuild.

After I accidentally knocked over my harp while recovering from Covid this past winter, the instrument was severely damaged and needed major repairs. It fell forward and hit a Victorian rolltop desk, splitting the length of the pillar shield on both wings (which has a Celtic knot abalone inlay in the middle) and the stave back soundbox separated at several points. Also the soundbox as a whole twisted to the right, leaving a large air gap at the base. This is a lefty harp, so there’s been quite a bit of pull over the years; the continuous force of the strings under tension gradually draw the neck and pillar to the right.

The harp was shipped off to California in mid-July and has been expertly repaired by Steve Triplett. I’m looking forward to welcoming her home in a few weeks! My church is rejoicing also; we’re planning on moving our beautiful but sadly out of tune antique upright piano to the other wall near the currently unoccupied choir pews so that Luna harp can be placed right in front of and below the pipe organ console and nearby for Communion.