Anyone know any history of my harp?- very strange

[Charles]

Leon, I’m noticing a pattern here with you, another beautiful harp in another beautiful room, are you a designer by chance? I hope you get your stringing situation worked out, it would be a shame to mess up such a nice old harp.

[tracey-kjonegaard]

I agree, Leon seems to have beautifully decorated rooms. And I wish I could have harps to decorate my house with lol

[leon-ducommun-dit-verron]

Thankyou Tracey . It wasn’t intentional to have a harp in each room. I only intended to have one – I think they suit Georgian rooms ( house was built in 1785) but I then saw the second and was very cheap plus I preferred the look of the grecian so I bought that too. By the way I’m not a designer.
I’m just a retail manager.

[leon-ducommun-dit-verron]

I have taken the advise and slackened off the strings on the morley. I will see if I can get a technician over at some point ( I want it regulated anyway )

I still can’t find much history about the harp- morley just say it’s one of theirs but I’m still not 100% sure of the exact age.

[tracey-kjonegaard]

You’re very welcome!

Where do you find old decorative harps? At estate sales, antique shops or from private collector/sellers?

[leon-ducommun-dit-verron]

Amazingly eBay! I got the morley for £1020 and the grecian for £950 delivered.

[Charles]

That is amazing!

[Charles]

That is amazing!

[paul-knoke]

Leon, I would start by contacting Michael Parfett in London. He will be able to give you much more information, and may have parts for sale. Salopian Strings will also have information on the stringing schedules for your harps. In general, though, the Morley should be strung with “Lever Harp Gauge” strings, and the Grecian should be strung one octave lighter than modern standard (i.e. the strings would be put on the harp one octave lower than they are labeled on the package.)

[leon-ducommun-dit-verron]

Thankyou for your help

[eliza-morrison]

I’ve never heard of the 48th string before. It must be the 00A, I’m guessing? Not sure I’ve ever encountered anything in the harp literature which calls for that note. My preference would always be for an extra string or two at the bottom of the instrument, as those seem to be needed more often. Don’t most of us use our low wires more than the top of our first octave?

[leon-ducommun-dit-verron]

Yes it’s strange- it runs from c to top a. As I said I bought it as a 47 string but found it to be 48. Maybe it was easier structurally to make it with a top a rather than more larger strings? It may have been a gimick at the time to get sales??
The only info on it that I found is as follows
George’s son, Joseph George Morley (1847-1921), was apprenticed to the influential pedal harp innovators, Erard. In 1890, the Morley family took over the Erard London shop and workshops. Joseph George designed a 48 string pedal harp of which he was justly proud, having this to say of his creation:

“The Morley Orchestral Twentieth Century Harp is the outcome of some 25 years of the study of the harps of the Nineteenth Century in our repairing shops. It is not an invention; it is a concentration of 20 improvements on old inventions in the woodwork and mechanism.

[leon-ducommun-dit-verron]

Eliza – you mention an 00A? What is that? Have googled it but nothing came up .

[john-strand]

00 refers to the octave above first octave on the harp – the highest F on a 46 string harp – 00F, the highest G on a 47 string harp would be 00G, and for your 48 string harp 00A –
the Chinese harp which belongs to the San Antonio Symphony also has a 00A

[leon-ducommun-dit-verron]

I must sound stupid- at least I’m learning! Contacted the owner of morley on Facebook – he said to give him the serial number and he is finding out the history of the harp.

[Author]

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