ONLINE HARP SHOP
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Otway |
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STUDENT OTWAY HARP
The fifth in our series of accurate, high quality, measured student early Irish harps, which are being made for the Society by David Kortier, of Minnesota, is of the "large low-headed" design dating from c. 1500 - 1650, as a contrast with the later "high headed" Downhill and earlier "small low-headed" Trinity, Queen Mary and Lamont.
The Castle Otway harp was probably built in the later 16th century. In the late 18th century it was owned and played by Patrick Quin from the North-East of Ireland. Some of his repertory was collected by Edward Bunting and is preserved in Bunting's manuscripts in Queens University, Belfast. His harp was preserved by the Otway family and is now owned by Trinity College, Dublin.
HHSI Student Otway: features and specification
- 33 strings, C to g'''
- Two adjacent strings tuned to the note g below middle c' (a twelfth above the lowest note C), known as "na comhluighe"; also a missing pitch at either bottom E or F, known as "tead leagtha" or "tead leagaidh" accordingly.
- 26 brass strings; the lowest 7 of sterling silver
- The positioning of the 34 pins and 35 shoes copied from David Kortier's measurements from the original in Trinity College, Dublin, ensuring accurate historical string spacing and angles. (There is more than one possible stringing configuration; our preferred leaves the lowest pin and highest two shoes unused. You may experiment with other configurations if you wish.)
- Overall longest dimension 43" (109cm)
- Unitary neck-pillar construction laminated by David Kortier from cherry wood
- Pieced soundbox respecting wood grain orientation, from willow wood
- mortice and tenon joint at top of soundbox, bolt at base
- metal string shoes
- Tapered through tuning pins to fit standard pedal harp size tuning key
- For info on the original Otway harp, please click here.
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Click here for more information about ordering this harp
The HHSI has some Student Otway harps available for rental; please enquire for waiting times and rates.
For any enquiries to do with your order, please email shop@irishharp.org.
Each time you make a purchase from this on-line shop, you are contributing to the work of the HHSI. Thank you for your support.