A Harp by Glen

Feature	Detail
Forepillar round the front of the curve	28¾ inches
Height of front harmonic curve	4¼ inch, which makes a combined total of 33 inches, which as the instrument seems to have been loosely modelled on the Queen Mary probably would give the same overall height as the Queen Mary
Length of box	27½ inches
Width at top	5¼ inches
Width at bottom	12½ inches
Sounding board	7 to 8 mm thick
String spacing	Approximately 15mm at pegs and 20 to 22mm at sounding board.
Current Location	The Highland Folk Museum

String No.	String Diameters (inches)
1	0.0164"
2	0.0166"
3	0.0169"
4	0.0166"
5	0.0166"
6	0.0166"
7	0.0174"
8	0.0167"
9	0.0165"
10	0.0170"
11	0.0166"
12	0.0125"
13	0.0125"
14	0.0173"
15	0.0176"
16	0.0167"
17	0.0179"
18	string too short to measure
19	0.0125"
20	0.0191"
21	0.0164"
22	0.0192"
23	0.0192"
24	0.0191"
25	0.0195"
26	0.0305"
27	0.0305"
28	0.0305"
29	No pin

Harp donated by Miss Russell-Fergusson to the Highland Folk Museum, Kingussie. According to a note in the Russell–Fergusson Collection in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, the harp was brought to Mr. J.G. Morley, Harpmaker, London, about 1934 by a man who refused to give any information about it. Francis Collinson in his “The Traditional and National Music of Scotland” states that this harp was one of those made by Glen, although it is not clear on what authority he bases this claim.

The harp is certainly a reproduction with a constructed sound box, the soundboard being shaped over wood bridges approximately 3” – 4” apart. There are 28 pins with a hole for a 29th. At the time of measuring, there were 15 strings intact but sufficient remained of the others to measure all bar one.

Although some of the gauges are used out of position, it seems clear that the instrument was strung using just four basic gauges of wire (wire gauge 6, 7, 8 and 12).