Replacement Soundboards for the 3 Kovac Paraguayan Harp Models

We now provide replacement Soundboards for all 3 of John Kovac's Paraguayan Harp models as found in John's Harpmaking Made Simple plans book. Those are the 36, 29, & 22-string Paraguayan models only.

These Soundboards are custom-made to order. We do not stock them pre-made. (However, the necessary materials to make a custom Soundboard are kept readily available.)

Please note: We do not make repairs to any existing Soundboards. At least 97% of all Soundboard damages (the #1 reason to repair/replace a board), including if it has advanced age, render the board unusable & unrepairable. 

We might attempt to fix scratches, etc. But, cracks, splits, damaged joints, warped boards, deep water damage, veneer & multi-layer separations, etc., cannot usually be repaired.  

For any of the above issues & concerns, a replacement Soundboard is always recommended.

Important! Please, contact me before shipping any parts of your harp to me to be certain that we can create a Soundboard for your particular situation & that the results will be affordable for your budget!

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We offer two replacement Soundboard options:

• Deluxe (Takes up to 2 weeks to create, then ship after ordering)
• Standard (Takes up to 1 week to create, then ship after ordering)

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The Deluxe option:

This Soundboard is made from a fine musical instrument tonewood called, Paulownia, and is an excellent & less expensive alternative to Spruce. It is strong, lightweight & is very flexible. Most importantly, its tone is bright, smooth & clean; reproducing even the lowest of bass notes with even volume & richness on balance with the treble notes. 

It also contains Maple front and rear string ribs & supports. These Soundboards do not contain any type of brass string eyelets on the front string rib. 

The Standard Option:

This Soundboard is made from commercial 5/16" Luan multiply. It is a strong, lightweight composite wood that has a very even & warm tone, all the way down through the bass notes. The treble is clean and the bass is very firm. The overall volume of sound is a bit quieter compared to Paulownia (above).

This option also contains Maple rear string ribs & supports. However, depending on your current Soundboard's design, the replacement board may, or may not have a front string rib.

If your current Soundboard has no string rib on the front, the replacement board will not include one, but will instead include brass string eyelets. (Or, we may decide to include a front string rib without eyelets anyway, for strength & longevity. We'll decide case by case.)

If your current board has a front string rib, a Maple rib will be used, but without any brass eyelets.

Below is Davy's own Luan, Standard Soundboard example.

But, does Luan sound good?

Based on one of John Kovac's earlier tone wood experiments, he did a blind sound test of tone for the industry standard Sitka Spruce tonewood compared against construction-grade, commercial Luan multiply. (Such Spruce is normally the top choice of wood for most musical stringed instruments.)

For the test, a large pool of people were blindfolded (one at a time) and were instructed to listen to two harps being played, one immediately after the other. One harp contained professional Spruce for its Soundboard. The other contained a commercial Luan multiply Soundboard. 

In the end, John was surprised to learn that a small majority liked the sound of the Luan better than the Spruce! 

 (The very first Paraguayan harp Davy made was Luan. And, he still has that very same 36-string harp today [April 2024] and it still sounds good and has held up exceptionally well!) (See its picture below.)

How your replacement Soundboards are made, treated & processed for use in your harp:

Deluxe Soundboard:

• The Deluxe board is made of 7 to 8 multi-sectional, tight-grained, horizontally oriented wood panels all glued together & supported by perpendicular string ribs & rear supports.

• Hot Hide Glue is exclusively used on all of our Soundboards. This has the advantage of bonding together the molecules of the separate wood panels creating, in effect, a single panel, which greatly increases the bass response & volume of the Paulownia wood used. (Modern synthetic wood glues are never used since these glues isolate & insulate the soundwave vibrations running through all the wood panels producing a duller sound with far less volume.)

• The entire Soundboard is conditioned by the use of a single coat of unwaxed, clear Shellac. The exposed surface of the Soundboard that will be seen has a layer of special wood oil polish applied to it. (This inexpensive, easy-to-find polish should be re-applied once or twice a year, which is very easy to do.)

• Unless your particular Kovac Soundboard has been modified by its builder, the standard, Kovac historical string layout & hole spacing template is used.

• The new Soundboard is ultimately cut & shaped to exactly match your current Soundboard's size & thickness.

Standard Soundboard:

• The Standard board is made of one large, composite wood panel supported by perpendicular string ribs & rear supports.
• Hot Hide Glue is used, as explained above.
• Wood conditioning & polish are used, as above.
• As above, the traditional, standard Kovac string layout & hole template is used.
• The size & shape of the new Soundboard, etc., is as explained above.

What we need from you to make a replacement Soundboard that exactly matches your harp:

• A reliable, immediate contact email & phone number. (Without excessive Spam protection.) We may have more questions to coordinate than are covered initially below.

• Pictures (email) of the specific areas of your harp around its Soundboard mounting.

• Pictures (email) of the front & back of your Soundboard.

• A written description of any oddities or variations to standard Kovac Soundboards that concern your Soundboard including any damage. (Which damage is most likely the reason you're replacing your Soundboard.)

• A written list of the exact dimensions of the Soundboard & its mounting on the harp's sides, etc., including the Soundboard's slot thickness & depth cut into the Sides, the Top Plate & Bottom Plate, as applicable.

• Some may find it far easier to ship us the Soundboard to directly make a replica from it. The great majority of all Kovac Paraguayan Soundboards can be removed. (Unless the builder chose to glue it in. Then, the whole harp's Sound Chamber/box must be sent in for critical repairs. See this link for our harp repair information page.)

• Es menos costoso para usted si agregamos el envío por separado para cada pedido completo en lugar de ocultarlo entre precios aumentados para todos y cada uno de nuestros productos mientras hacemos la afirmación falsa de que está recibiendo envío y manipulación " gratuitos ". ¡ Ningún transportista realiza envíos gratis!

• Tenga en cuenta que el Viernes Negro, la temporada navideña, las emergencias relacionadas con el clima y diversos desastres provocados por el hombre a menudo retrasan las entregas; a menudo sin previo aviso a nosotros o a usted. JK Harps no acepta ninguna responsabilidad por dichos retrasos que siempre están fuera de nuestro control.

• RECORDATORIO: Los mecanismos de afinación de cuerdas y las cuerdas de bajo enrolladas pueden tener un retraso en el envío de pedidos pendientes de aproximadamente dos (2) a tres (3) semanas debido a su naturaleza personalizada.

• Cuando finalmente se envíe cualquier pedido retrasado, se le notificará inmediatamente por correo electrónico de rutina.

• Se realizará un seguimiento de todos los pedidos y podrá recibir actualizaciones a través del correo electrónico del operador, si así lo desea, a medida que avanza el proceso.
• Todos los pedidos están totalmente asegurados según los servicios de seguro estándar del operador.
• Todo el envío y manejo incluirán tarifas estándar para el envío de materiales y el manejo de pedidos.
• Se requiere una dirección de envío viable y no somos responsables de los pedidos que no se puedan entregar por su parte.
• Cualquier pedido superior a $100 requerirá una firma de entrega en la dirección que proporcionó para la recepción del envío.

ARPAS PRECONSTRUIDAS

• Las arpas prefabricadas se enviarán a través del servicio terrestre de UPS, incluida una tarifa plana de entrega especial para arpas.
• UPS no puede utilizar apartados de correos, etc., para la entrega. Se requiere una dirección postal para ser entregada en su hogar o ubicación comercial.

• Todas las entregas de arpa requerirán una firma al recibirlas. Sin firma; no hay entrega.

DAÑO al ENVÍO

• Debe verificar su entrega para detectar cualquier daño o pérdida inmediatamente después de su llegada en el improbable caso de que haya algún problema de envío con el producto causado por un tercero, el transportista de entrega.

• Tome fotografías, si es posible, y notifique al Transportista inmediatamente sobre cualquier daño o pedido faltante. (Dentro de 24 horas o menos). John Kovac Harps de Davy C (David J Clark, Agente) no será responsable de los daños o pérdidas de los pedidos realizados durante el tránsito. En tales casos, las reclamaciones se realizarán inmediatamente al transportista. (Pero infórmenos también para mantenernos informados si se puede hacer algo por nuestra parte).

• Si no notifica al transportista de manera oportuna y el reclamo es rechazado, puede perder su derecho a compensar al transportista.

• Para aclarar, pero no en todos los casos, una vez que presente un reclamo ante el transportista de envío, y ellos aprueben su reclamo y finalmente paguen por su pérdida o daños, nos enviará ese pago. Una vez aprobado por nuestra institución financiera, le enviaremos inmediatamente un pedido de reemplazo.

Crédito de la foto: Matthew Henry