Protecting The Finish On Your Harp

There are many fine furniture polishes that work well at protecting the finish on your harp and some background is available to assist you in selecting which is best for your personal instrument. All varieties of wax products are designed to put a thin slippery protective coat over a finish. In this way acidic sweat and the oil from your hands interact with the polish, not with the finish itself. Polishes may slow but can not stop the oxidation of the finish, U.V. light aging or the exchange of moisture between wood and the air. No matter what you have heard from advertisers, it is almost impossible to get a "wax build up" on wood if the wax is applied properly. Solvents in the new coat will liquefy the old coat, making a new single layer ready to be buffed. (Floor wax build up is another story and is not the same.) Myths surrounding wax as a dampening agent on woods predate modern polishes and have been long ago disproven by multiple reputable sources. Expensive designer waxes, like guitar polish, are helpful on high-gloss finishes, like guitar soundboards because they do not highlight fingerprints, but lower gloss harp finishes derive no benefit and the additional cost is appreciable. When applying any wax product, put the wax on a rag or applicator first, never apply the wax directly to the wood.

A good quality furniture paste wax will give you the hardest and most long lasting protection. However, it is the most difficult to apply. Paste wax must be rubbed on, allowed to fog/dry and then buffed off until the wax shines. Working around strings, tuning pegs and sharping levers is difficult and time consuming.

A simpler choice is a liquid polish. Products in this group just need be rubbed on until dry to the touch. However, when these products evaporate the protection is gone. It is a good idea to use them once a week. Professionals that travel and gig everyday may want to polish more frequently. Liquid furniture polish comes in two forms, a clear liquid or a milky liquid. Choose the milky products. They contain oils that remove oil soluble dirt and water base chemicals that remove water soluble dirt. The clear products only remove oil soluble dirt. In our shop, as a result of a study done by Fine Woodworking Magazine, we use Pledge. (We were surprised too.) It is a milky oil distillate product, and it is one of the few liquid polishes that actually contains some wax. We have had consistently excellent results.

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