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.)

• C'est moins cher pour vous si nous ajoutons les frais d'expédition séparément pour chaque commande complète au lieu de les cacher dans des prix accrus pour chacun de nos produits tout en prétendant faussement que vous bénéficiez des frais d'expédition et de manutention « gratuits ». No Carrier expédie gratuitement !

• Veuillez noter que le Black Friday, la saison de Noël, les urgences liées aux conditions météorologiques et diverses catastrophes d'origine humaine retardent souvent les livraisons ; souvent sans préavis ni à nous ni à vous. JK Harps n'accepte aucune responsabilité pour de tels retards qui sont toujours indépendants de notre volonté.

• RAPPEL : Les mécanismes d'accordage des cordes et les cordes de basse enroulées peuvent avoir un délai d'expédition en rupture de stock d'environ deux (2) à trois (3) semaines en raison de leur nature personnalisée.

• Lorsqu'une commande retardée sera finalement expédiée, vous serez immédiatement informé par e-mail de routine.

• Toutes les commandes seront suivies et vous pourrez être informé, par e-mail du transporteur, si vous le souhaitez, au fur et à mesure du processus.
• Toutes les commandes sont entièrement assurées par les services d'assurance standard du transporteur.
• Toutes les expéditions et manutentions incluront les frais standard pour l’expédition du matériel et la gestion des commandes.
• Une adresse de livraison viable est requise et nous ne sommes pas responsables des commandes non livrables de votre côté.
• Toute commande supérieure à 100 $ nécessitera une signature de livraison à l'adresse que vous avez fournie pour la réception de l'expédition.

HARPES PRÉCONSTRUITES

• Les harpes pré-construites seront expédiées via UPS Ground Service, y compris des frais forfaitaires pour la livraison spéciale de la harpe.
• UPS ne peut pas utiliser de boîtes postales, etc., pour la livraison. Une adresse postale est requise pour être livrée à votre domicile ou à votre entreprise.

• Toutes les livraisons de harpes nécessiteront une signature à la réception. Aucune signature; pas de livraison.

DOMMAGES À L'EXPÉDITION

• Vous devez vérifier votre livraison pour tout dommage ou perte immédiatement après son arrivée dans le cas peu probable de problèmes d'expédition avec le produit causés par le tiers, le transporteur de livraison.

• Prenez des photos, si possible, et informez immédiatement le transporteur de tout dommage ou de toute commande manquante. (Dans les 24 heures ou moins.) John Kovac Harps de Davy C (David J Clark, agent) ne sera pas tenu responsable des dommages ou des pertes de commandes effectuées pendant le transport. Dans de tels cas, les réclamations seront immédiatement adressées au transporteur. (Mais informez-nous également pour nous tenir au courant si quelque chose peut être fait de notre côté.)

• Si vous n'informez pas le transporteur en temps opportun et que la réclamation est rejetée, vous risquez de perdre votre droit à un recours auprès du transporteur.

• Pour plus de précision, mais pas dans tous les cas, une fois que vous avez fait une réclamation auprès de votre transporteur, et qu'il a approuvé votre réclamation et finalement payé votre perte ou vos dommages, vous nous enverrez ce paiement. Une fois l'accord obtenu auprès de notre institution financière, nous vous enverrons immédiatement une ou plusieurs commandes de remplacement.

Crédit photo : Matthieu Henry