Harp Tuner — Pedal, Lever and Celtic Harps

A harp is a plucked string instrument with one string per note. A pedal harp typically has 47 strings, seven per octave, and seven foot pedals that alter whole pitch classes; a lever harp has a hand lever on each string instead. With no single standard string count or key, this page tunes chromatically, one string at a time.

How to use it

1. Start the tuner. Press Start Tuner (Microphone) and allow microphone access. The audio is analysed in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
2. Tune one string at a time and let it ring. Pluck the string with a normal finger stroke and hold it while the display settles. Because this page has no string cards, the display simply names the nearest note and shows how far from it the string is.
3. Find middle C first, then work outward. Rees Harps’ tuning guide starts a beginner at middle C and then moves to the next shorter string, the D above it, continuing through the instrument. Starting at C and walking up or down in steps keeps you oriented on an instrument with dozens of near-identical strings.
4. Use the coloured C strings as landmarks. On a lever harp the C strings are red. On a pedal harp, Wikipedia gives C strings as red and F strings as black or blue, with the rest white. Counting octaves from the nearest red C is the quickest way to know where you are.
5. Turn the tuning pin gently and in small increments. Rees Harps warns that you will be surprised how little you have to turn a pin to get a big change in the note. Put the wrench on the pin that belongs to the string you are plucking, and make sure of that before you turn it.
6. Tune up to pitch, not down. If a string is already above its target, lower it noticeably and then bring it back up. Coming up to pitch loads the pin and the wood consistently and holds better than stopping on the way down.
7. Work in steps, not jumps. Tune the strings in order around the instrument, then make a second pass. Tightening the later strings raises the soundboard slightly, so the first strings you tuned may now read flat.
8. Check the reference before you start. A4 = 440 Hz is the default; the chips cover A415 to A444 for ensembles that use another standard. Every note on the page scales with the reference you choose.

How many strings, and in what key

Harps are not one instrument but a family, and that is exactly why no preset ships for them:

Instrument	Typical strings	Normal tuning
Pedal (concert) harp	47, seven per octave, six and a half octaves	All strings flat — C♭ major in the normal pedal position
Lever / folk / Celtic harp	From two to six octaves; makers commonly build 27–36 strings	Usually C major; often E♭ major for flat keys

• The pedal harp is standardised; its key is still not the only one. Wikipedia’s pedal harp article gives the typical instrument as 47 strings and states that “in the normal state (pedals not operated) the strings are tuned to all flat pitches, the scale of C♭ major”. Harp parts are conventionally notated in C♭ rather than B major because that matches how the instrument’s strings are named.
• Lever harps are built in many sizes. Wikipedia describes the mid-size folk, lever and Celtic family as ranging “from two to six octaves”, and Rees Harps, a maker building since 1972, offers 27, 30, 34 and 36-string concert lever harps. A preset that fits a 27-string lap harp would put cards on screen for strings that do not exist on a 47-string pedal harp, and vice versa.
• Every harp uses the same seven-notes-per-octave layout. Whatever the size, the strings repeat a seven-note pattern, which is what makes string-by-string chromatic tuning practical: once you know one octave, every octave above it is the same pattern.
• The lowest strings sit very low and the highest sit very high. On a pedal harp in C♭ the range runs from C♭1 to G♭7 per Wikipedia — roughly 30.9 Hz at the bottom and about 2960 Hz at the top. The top of that range is above what this tuner’s configured ceiling will read, so the highest strings need a different check (see Accuracy and limits).

Pedal harps: what the seven pedals do

• One pedal, one pitch class. The seven pedals are D, C and B on the left and E, F, G and A on the right. Each pedal acts on every string of its pitch class across the whole instrument, so pressing the C pedal changes every C on the harp at once.
• Three positions per pedal. Up is flat, the middle position gives the natural, and the bottom position raises the string again to the sharp. Wikipedia’s illustration of the mechanism shows discs studded with pegs that pinch the string and shorten its vibrating length.
• The default is flat. With every pedal up, the harp is tuned to the scale of C♭ major. That is why harp music is often written with flats that other instruments would spell as sharps.
• Three strings are not on the pedal system. Wikipedia notes that the lowest C and D and the highest G have no pedal tuning mechanism and are normally tuned to C♮, D♮ and G♮ at their own pins, unless a piece asks for something else. If you are checking those strings, remember that moving a pedal will not correct them.
• Pedals change the pitch after tuning — they do not tune the instrument. Set the open strings first, then check that each pedal moves its pitch class by the expected amount. A pedal that is out of regulation will make an in-tune string play out of tune in one position.

Lever harps: two pitches per string, and the keys that gives you

• A lever raises its own string by a semitone. Wikipedia: “Each lever acts on a single string, shortening it enough to raise the pitch by a chromatic sharp.” With the lever down the string sounds the tuned note; with it up, a semitone higher.
• Tuned in C, a lever harp reaches the sharp-side keys. Rees Harps’ Marta Cook explains that with a C tuning and the levers as the only alteration, the available keys are C, G, D, A, E, B, F♯ and C♯ major and their relative minors.
• Tuned in E♭, it reaches the flat-side keys instead. For music that lives in flats, the maker’s recommended method is to put the B, E and A levers up and then tune the whole harp to the C scale: the strings now have B♭, E♭ and A♭ available with the levers down. That gives E♭, B♭, F, C, G, D and A major — the seven keys most repertoire actually uses.
• You cannot have both sets without retuning. With only two pitches per string, a lever harp is a seven-key instrument at any one time. Decide which side of the key spectrum your repertoire lives on before you tune, then tune to that key.

Working string by string with the chromatic display

Because the tuner has no cards here, the sequence matters more than the display itself:

1. Set the reference (A4 = 440 Hz by default) before you touch a string.
2. Find a C you trust. Middle C is the natural starting point that Rees Harps recommends for beginners. Pluck it and read the display.
3. Walk outward in steps. Tune the D above it, then the E, and so on up the instrument; then come back and work down. The seven-note pattern repeats, so each string you finish is a reference for the shape of the next.
4. Check the octave number, not just the letter. An instrument this size has C strings in several octaves, and a reading of “C” with the wrong octave number is still the letter C. On large harps the display’s octave digits are the only thing that distinguishes them.
5. Mute the nearby strings. Low strings in particular ring sympathetically and can confuse a microphone reading. Rees Harps suggests muting the lower strings with a hand when the tuner struggles on the higher ones.
6. Make a second pass. After the whole instrument is tuned, the strings you set first may have drifted flat. Go around again — the second pass is usually quick.

Accuracy and limits

• The top of a pedal harp’s range is above this tuner’s ceiling. The configured range reaches 2200 Hz, and the highest equal-tempered note inside it is C7 (2093 Hz). Wikipedia gives the pedal harp’s range as ending on G♭7, which sounds at about 2960 Hz, so the very top strings are outside the detector’s range. Tune those by ear against the octave below, or use a clip-on tuner that covers the treble end.
• The bottom strings are the other hard case. Small microphones lose sensitivity at the low end, and the wound bass strings of a harp can arrive quiet even when they sound full in the room. Pluck them a little more firmly and let the note ring.
• The high strings ring best when plucked lightly. Rees Harps’ advice is to pluck the higher strings lightly with a fingernail to get a clear bell-like tone; plucking harder makes the tone wobble and the tuner less certain.
• Sympathetic ringing is constant on a harp. Dozens of unplayed strings sit ready to vibrate, so mute the neighbours of the string you are tuning and pluck once.
• A pin that slips is a mechanical fault, not a tuning one. If a string drops pitch as soon as you let go of the wrench, the pin is loose in the wood. Tuning it up again will not fix it; a repairer will.
• Temperature and humidity move the whole instrument. Dry air pulls the soundboard and raises pitch across the harp; humid air does the opposite. Let the instrument settle in the room before a long tuning session.
• An electronic tuner is a starting point, not the whole skill. Harp tuning is ultimately an interval-by-interval job; the display gets each string close, and the octaves confirm the whole.

Safety

• Be gentle with the pins. Rees Harps puts it plainly: a surprisingly small turn makes a big change in pitch. Forcing a pin past the note risks the string and the pin block.
• Put the wrench on the right pin. Tightening one string while plucking another is a common beginner mistake, and a string pulled far above pitch can break.
• Always tune up to pitch. If a string is sharp, lower it significantly and bring it back up rather than easing it down to the target, which leaves slack between pin and bridge.
• Replace strings one at a time. A harp’s soundboard is thin and carries the tension of every string. Changing one string at a time keeps the frame’s load even.
• Detune before a dry move. When a harp travels from a humid place into dry air, the maker’s guidance is to slacken the instrument by about a half step and bring it back up after it has settled, which spares the soundboard.
• Protect your hearing and your back. A harp is loud under the ear and heavy to move. Take breaks, and get help when the instrument has to be lifted.