Clive Morley Harps

Harps by Dusty Strings

Dusty Strings was founded by Ray and Sue Mooers in 1979. Since then, they have grown from a basement venture into a respected source of high-quality folk harps. To date, Ray and Sue, along with their team of thirty talented craftspeople, have made over 5000 harps in their Seattle workshop.

When Dusty Strings first began designing harps in 1984, their initial developments led to a combination of soundbox, soundboard construction and string design that gave a particularly bright, crisp and balanced sound. This sound, which serves a wide variety of playing styles well, has become a recognised characteristic of Dusty Strings harps.

Special Features of Dusty Strings Harps

Radiused Neck Joint The neck is held onto the top of the soundbox by string tension rather than bolts or screws. This way, the neck can flex under the tension introduced when the harp is strung, without compromising the strength and tightness of the joint between the neck and soundbox. The radiused joint also functions as a shock absorber, helping to dissipate the force of impact from minor bumps and falls.

Threaded Tuning Pins Grooved with a very fine screw thread hidden inside the harp neck. When pressed into precisely sized holes, these threads create friction which securely holds the string's pitch. This also eliminates the occasional need to reset traditional tapered pins, which can work loose.

Loveland Sharping Levers Brass with black polycarbonate coated cam handles for strength, smooth operation and virtually undiminished tone. A subtle touch of colour-coding on the C and F levers allows for easy identification and fluent lever changes.

Strings In order to maintain consistently high quality strings, Dusty Strings designed and built their own string winding machinery. Great effort is made to ensure an even string diameter and therefore, an even tonal progression, all the way down the range of each harp. String composition: