"Touch the Harp Gently"

        Just touch the Harp gently, my pretty Louise,

                And sing me the songs that I love;

They’ll recall the bright days when we play’d in the wood,

              And watch’d  the birds flitting above.

       There was one that you sang, my pretty Louise,

             The words, I remember them well,

       I lov’d it, and when you had finished each verse,

               I kiss’d you and said: ‘Never tell’;

        Just touch the Harp gently, my pretty Louise,

             Just touch the Harp gently, Louise.

Earlier on the blog I wrote a bit about how I had made small Musical Boxes for my great nephews/nieces. These ended up as small Barrel Organs, but the original plan was to make them in the shape of a harp. Thirty odd years ago I had built a folk-harp and the small ones were exact scale models of their larger 'sister'. In the above picture you can see the full-size harp in the background. 

Each model took about four weeks to make, so making eight would have taken eight months !

I made two, and called it a day.  They are made in mahogany with spruce on the front.

The strings were made of nylon 'fishing-line' and the little tuning pegs were tapered 'clock pins'.

Each plays a different tune and are started by the small lever on the side.

They are about 7" tall as you can see shown against a £2 coin.

                 "Just touch the Harp gently, Louise."

Written by Charles Blamphin (1830-1895) a well-known English harpist

who also composed ballads.