Paul Culotta, Harpbuilder

have been building Celtic Harps for over 18 years. Of the 100 plus harps I have made, the vast majority have been made for specific individuals. I like building harps that way and I like building them myself.

Materials and Special Instructions

t is my practice to select the materials for a given instrument from a hardwood dealer. I select from a much larger variety of quality and material than if I bought materials in quantity and was compelled to use whatever I had on hand. It also permits me to customize for the individual. I can create requested inscriptions on the backside of the soundboard, engrave the brass plate at the harmonic curve/pillar junction or any other special requests the client may desire.

Building the Harp

ince I build the harps myself and have no desire to expand to factory production levels, my output will necessarily be limited to perhaps 8 to 10 harps per year. When I take an order, I require a good faith down payment of about 30% of the final payment to cover the cost of materials. The balance being due prior to shipping.

Waiting List

or my clients protection, I will accept no more than 3 orders beyond the harp (or rarely 2 harps) that I may be currently building.

Inquiries or requests beyond that will be put on a waiting list in the order received. When the time comes that I may accept a new order, I will contact the first name on the list and ask if they still wish to buy a Woldsong Harp. In this way, I can avoid situations where I am backlogged beyond a reasonable length of time, and no client will have to wait and have their money tied up for unspecified periods.

Production

nce I have received an order from a client and started to work on their harp, my custom in the past has been to photograph all the materials to be used before the first line is drawn or the first cut made. Then, every few days, I photograph the instrument in its various stages of completion and send those to the customer. I do this for two reasons.

1. The client can see that their money is accomplishing something.

2. The client is involved in every aspect of creating their harp.

I believe that these practices make Woldsong Celtic Harps able to hold there own when compared to the finest musical instruments manufactured today.

Sincerely,

Paul Culotta

Harpbuilder

Warranty

oldsong harps are built to last. For that reason, all Woldsong harps are guaranteed for defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 10 years. This does not include horizontal cracks in the soundboard (see “Owners Care and Maintenance” brochure supplied with the harp). Nor does the guarantee include damage from abuse or neglect in maintaining the harp in a reasonable manner. The strings are guaranteed for a period of 90 days from the date of delivery.

All sharpening levers (which will henceforth be referred to as Celtic Harp Frets) except the top three, are guaranteed to be installed to within 14 cents* of exact intonation regardless if set at just touching the string to a full 90* to the string. Further they are guaranteed to maintain accuracy to within 17 cents for as long as you own your harp. NOTE: THE WOLDSONG FRETS NEVER REQUIRE TUNING, INDEED, THEY HAVE NO TUNING MECHANISM BY WHICH THEY CAN VIBRATE OUT OF TUNE AND AS WITH FRETS ON ALL FINE INSTRUMENTS ARE TOTALLY TROUBLE FREE FOR AS LONG AS YOU OWN THE HARP.

*One cent of tone interval is equal to 1/100 of an even tempered half step. Thus one cent is 1/1200 of an octave.