The frame of the harp itself gives you the positions of all of the strings, and defines the lengths of all the strings. It is really important that the lengths are correct, but if they are wrong there is almost nothing you can do about this. The lengths are set by the harp maker, and so it is very important that you get a harp that was made following a traditional design.
The stringchart tells you what gauge of wire is fitted to each position on the harp, and what note that wire is tuned to.
The notes and tuning of the harp
I think the harps used by the traditional Irish harpers from the 17th century right through to the early 20th century always went down at least as low as C two octaves below middle c′, and up to d‴ two octaves above middle c′ – I think this is the “absolute minimum” that we expect a traditional Irish harp to have. Most Irish harps used in the inherited tradition have more strings than this at the top and at the bottom. There are two strings tuned to the same note, g below middle c′; these are called “na comhluighe” or “the sisters”. An octave lower than them is cronan G, and next below it there is a gap in the bass: one string can be tuned either up to bass F♮ or down to bass E, depending on the mode of the tune. This retunable string is called “tead leagaidh”. There may be other gaps lower in the bass as well.
You can download my free PDF instructions for tuning the harp.
I have some very nice G392 tuning forks, which sound one octave above na comhluighe (sisters) g. These are John Walker brand, made in England. Use this fork to set the pitch of na comhluighe (sisters) g and then follow the traditional tuning sequence, to end up with your harp much better in tune, more resonant and sweeter sounding… and you will never go back to an electronic machine. £25
Patrick Byrne’s string list
My recommended setup for a full-sized traditional wire-strung Irish harp follows the string counts taken down from a traditional harper. The notes and gauges are my suggestions based on practical experience.
| Information from Patrick Byrne, 1849 | My understanding of what the notes would be | My suggested brass wire gauge |
| Longest wire, 5 wires of this | Lowest bass strings GG, AA, BB, C, and D | 1 mm |
| 3 wires of the next size | Téad Leagaidh E/F, Cronan G, and A | 0.8 mm |
| 6 of the next | B up to lower comhluighe g | 0.7 mm |
| upper comhluighe g up an octave to f′ | 0.6 mm | |
| 5 | g′ up to d″ | 0.48 mm |
34 in all | all the rest of the strings up to the top of the harp | 0.44 mm |
The first column of this chart is the testimony of the harper and tradition-bearer, Patrick Byrne, written down in 1849 by the collector John Bell.
Byrne’s testimony is not problem-free; most obviously he doesn’t tell us the actual gauges. Byrne’s counts above the sisters have been emended by Bell, and even then they don’t add up to the 38 positions which Byrne’s harp apparently had. I don’t know if this vagueness about the exact count of each gauge above na comhluighe (the sisters) might be because John Bell was getting very confused and writing down wrong information, or because Patrick Byrne did not really think it mattered very much exactly where the treble transition points were between gauges.
You can download this information as a PDF:
John Egan harp string chart (2023, rev 2024)
To order strings, and for video and printed instructions on fitting strings to the harp, please see my wire page.
Makers’ plans and technical drawings are available via my plans page
If you are looking for information about stringing 17th or 18th century style Irish harps, see my early harps page.
If you are looking for information about stringing medieval Irish or Scottish wire-strung harps, see my medieval page.
If your harp is not one of the standard models, or you don’t know what the top and bottom note should be, I can do a string length analysis and make a custom stringchart for your harp, based on the measured string lengths. The cost of this is £25.