The Otway harp

3D anaglyph image showing damage to the neck
red/cyan goggles required

There are cracks and patches at the treble end of the neck.

The three joints seem to have been re-set at some point, as they do not line up properly. Unfortunately they have all been filled in with brown filler which obscures much of the detail.

When Armstrong saw the harp in around 1900, the back was open and so the inside was all visible. Now there is a modern plywood back fixed on with modern woodscrews.

The projecting block of the harp is embedded in a display stand; this was already there 100 years ago when Armstrong saw the harp.

There is extensive woodworm damage but it is concentrated at certain points on the harp: on the soundbox where the wrists rest on the edges, and at the back at the top where it rests against the player; and on the forepillar where the inscription is.

References

Simon Chadwick