Harp String Information & Guide to Buying the Right Harp Strings
Harps have many strings and they will break with use and time.
With our String Selector, once you choose your model harp, a graphic will appear that will help you easily identify which string(s) you need. Below the graphic, string results will be listed and you can narrow your search by octave, material, brand or by Complete Sets, Octaves Sets, or Individual Strings. The default tab will show results for Original Manufacturer’s Stringing (how the harp was strung when you first received it from the factory), and for harps that have Optional Strings available (such as Burgundy Gut or silver-plated wires) a second tab will appear. For some harps, gut and nylon materials overlap for one or more octaves, this means you can use either one (but we recommend that you choose one material for the entire octave).
Harp.com specializes in Lyon & Healy and Salvi harps and we sell standard stringing for our harps. Other harpmakers use many types and gauges of strings that could be different from ours. It is extremely important that you put the correct strings on your harp, or you could affect the tension that is applied on your harp and cause damage. If you are not sure, you should consult with your manufacturer.
Pedal harps are normally strung with the following string materials:
- Zero and 1st octave: nylon
- 2nd octave: either nylon or gut (some harpists prefer gut for sound or nylon for cost)
- 3rd through 5th octave A: gut
- 5th octave G through 7th octave: bass wire
