Several of us are away at the Somerset Folk Harp Festival, and we may not be able to respond to emails and phone calls as quickly as usual. Thank you for your patience!
At Dusty Strings, we place great importance on standing behind our warranty. Like many builders of musical instruments, we work to achieve a delicate balance between building for structural strength and building for good tone. Hammered dulcimers and harps must support tremendous tension; a typical 3-octave dulcimer can have over 2,000 pounds of total string tension, and a 34-string harp can have around 1,200 pounds. It's easy to overdesign an instrument to gain an absolute guarantee of structural strength, but as players we aren't satisfied with the sound and performance that result from that approach.
No instrument builder who has achieved portability, good volume and a vibrant tone can claim a history totally free of instrument problems, so the important question is whether a builder has the capacity and desire to provide assistance if there ever is a problem with one of their instruments. In more than four decades of building instruments, that's been one of our consistent priorities.
Most of our instruments carry a five-year warranty. There is a two-year warranty on the Ravenna 26, Ravenna 34, Serrana 34 and Boulevard 34, commensurate with the lower price levels of these models.
All Dusty Strings instruments are warranted against defects in materials and workmanship to the original owner for a period of five years (two years for Ravenna, Serrana, and Boulevard model harps) from the original date of purchase. All repairs covered under this warranty will be provided without charge. The decision to repair or replace a defective instrument will be made by Dusty Strings. Shipping charges to and from Dusty Strings are the responsibility of the owner.
This warranty does not cover string breakage, lever breakage, damage to wood, hardware, or finishes due to normal use, carelessness, accident, extremes of humidity, dryness or temperature, or repairs or alterations made by other than Dusty Strings. Do not leave the instrument in a parked motor vehicle on a warm day. Temperatures high enough to soften glue (around 115oF or 45oC) can be quickly reached inside a vehicle parked in sun or shade, even with windows partially opened. Evidence of such an occurrence will void this warranty.
IMPORTANT: For information about properly humidifying your instrument, please read this document on Humidity, Dryness and Musical Instruments.
