Strings for Norris Harps can be purchased from our online string shop and can be posted anywhere in the world ...

Choose the ideal strings for your harp ...

Any Norris Harp can be made with a choice of 6 different string gauges which provide a broad range of string tension/playing feel and a great variety of different tonal qualities, even from the same model of harp. Many players still prefer traditional gut strings which have a slightly more mellow tone ... but some players are now opting for carbon strings which produce a particularly bright, pure tone and have the added advantage of great stability and very few string breakages.

It is not a disaster to order a harp with a particular string gauge and then change your mind at some point in the future. Every Norris Harp is constructed to cope with the tension of heavy gauge strings ... so you can, if you ever choose, change from heavy to light gauge, or light to heavy gauge, without doing any damage to your Norris harp.

Natural Gut Strings

Heavy Gauge Gut Strings ...

Heavy Gauge strings produce a firm/tight feel and offer the greatest possible dynamic range, from very soft to very powerful playing, with a bright but rich tone and good sustain. Well suited to pedal harpists and players with a strong technique who enjoy the feeling of precise control and potential power provided by the higher tension strings. A Norris harp with heavy strings will respond beautifully to the most delicate and subtle techniques of quiet playing, but can also be played very hard & loud when required. The richer, warmer tone of heavy gut strings will attract some players ... and you can hear this from recordings of players like Savourna Stevenson ( there are some tracks on the Players page ).

If you are a pedal harp player and would like a small harp with string tension & string spacing which is identical to a pedal harp, you will particularly like the Norris Full Concert 34 model which is based on the string lengths and string spacing of a Lyon & Healy pedal harp.

Medium Gauge Gut Strings ...

Medium Gauge strings are simply half way between the heavy and light gauge gut strings, for players who want their harp’s sound and playing qualities somewhere between the two ... or an excellent compromise for the indecisive! A little brighter in tone than the heavy gauge and a little more mellow in tone than the light gauge. The medium gauge has become increasingly popular since their introduction around 10 years ago ... with some Norris harp players changing from heavy to medium gauge and some changing from light to medium gauge during that time, in addition to the players who have opted for medium gauge strings on new harps.

The Medium Gauge gut strings are specially manufactured for Norris Harps by Bow Brand, so your future spare strings will need to be purchased direct from Norris Harps at www.harpstrings.biz .

Light Gauge Gut Strings ...

Light Gauge strings produce a lighter feel and a distinctive, bright tone with a clarity which projects well, giving a surprising amount of power and bite even though the strings are lighter. Irish/Celtic folk players often prefer this lighter stringing for their fast, ornamented playing style ... and the less strenuous technique required can suit very young players or older beginners taking up the harp later in life. Some pedal harp players even enjoy lighter gauge strings to provide the maximum contrast between their small harp & pedal harp.

You can hear this brighter tone on recordings made on a light strung Norris harp by Mairi MacLeod ( there are some tracks on the Players page ).

Carbon Strings

Carbon Strings ( actually Fluorocarbon ) have been specially developed for the harp over recent years by the French string maker Savarez and they now provide an interesting alternative to natural gut strings. Unlike nylon strings, which have been used as a less expensive alternative for cheaper harps ( and don’t produce a very nice tone ), the carbon strings produce a very good, clear, bright, resonant tone which many small harp players seem to like. The tone from carbon strings is certainly a little different to gut, being a little brighter, but this will appeal to some players of the small harp.

Heavy Gauge Carbon Strings ...

The carbon strings are less expensive than gut and are particularly robust and reliable so they will certainly appeal to schools and organisations who hire out harps and are keen to avoid the bother of string breakages. The carbon strings are also less sensitive than gut to changes in temperature and humidity ... so I have, for example, supplied carbon strung harps to players in Japan who are concerned about higher humidity levels ... and I also used carbon strings for my Aeolian Harp in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh which has happily survived outside in the sun, rain, wind & snow of Scotland since May 2014 with no broken strings so far!

However, there may be an obvious conflict here for some players who would choose Heavy Gauge Gut strings to achieve a rich & mellow tone, when the Heavy Gauge Carbon will tend to make the tone a little brighter & less mellow?

The usual stringing for a Norris Full Concert 34 model is Heavy Gauge Gut strings, but with a top octave of carbon strings for reliability ... which is also common practice with pedal harps which often have a top octave of nylon or carbon.

Medium Gauge Carbon Strings ...

The medium gauge carbon strings are now proving to be popular with Norris harp players who seem to enjoy the strong, bright tone and the medium tension produced by these carbon strings. It is also interesting to note that the Savarez carbon strings have a slightly matt textured finish which players seem to like compared to the gloss finish on some other types of nylon & carbon string. As with all carbon strings, the medium gauge carbon is very stable & reliable with a much longer life-span than the equivalent gut strings.

As with the Medium Gauge Gut strings, this is a very satisfactory choice for players who simply can’t quite decide whether to go for Heavy or Light!

Light Gauge Carbon Strings ...

The Light Gauge Carbon strings produce a very nice feel and a good bright tone for players who like a light strung harp ... and they offer a very satisfactory solution for those light strung players who feel that the thinner gauge gut strings break just a bit too often. I now have Norris harps out there, with light gauge carbon strings, which have been played for 5 or 6 years with hardly a broken string! The bright tone and good sustain from the light carbon strings is far superior to the sound from nylon ... and for a light strung player who enjoys a bright tone, they may genuinely prefer the sound of the Savarez carbon to gut.