Callan harps are hand crafted “from plank to pluck”. A harp consists of three main parts: the box, which includes the soundboard, the pole (or pillar), and the arm which are all assembled together to give a triangular shape.

The tree is cut into planks, and then kiln-dried to remove the moisture from the wood. I then take my harp templates and mark out the pole and arm profile on the wood. The profiles are then cut out and shaped. Holes are drilled for the tuning pegs and bridge pins and a joint is then cut out to fix the pole and arm together. The sound box is constructed by cutting out ten pieces of staved wood and gluing them together. The sound board consists of several pieces of Stika spruce joined together and shaped to the required thickness.

A rib is then attached on both sides. All the pieces of the harp are finally fixed and glued together and the finishing stage involves shaping, sanding, scraping and spraying.

At this stage the hardware is put on which involves the tuning pegs, bridge pins, sharpening levers and finally the strings. It will take several days of constant tuning to bring the harp strings to concert pitch and ready for playing.