Named after the capital of ancient Lydia
Sardis
€4,800
Our flagship: a professional, full-size 36-string lever harp with a solid-wood stave back, blended with carbon fiber. A custom soundboard painting of your choice is included in the price.
- 36 strings — equivalent in range to many 38–40 string harps
- Solid-wood stave back reinforced with carbon fiber
- High-quality brass levers on every string
- Custom soundboard painting included in the price
- Custom bronze bass strings; gut or synthetic gut options
- Fits on the back seat of an average car
All sales are invoiced and prices include VAT; shipping is not included. Harps are delicate instruments — we prefer personal handover where possible. Contact us to discuss delivery options for your location.
About this instrument
This model comes in two versions. The original is the stave back — a rounded body built from solid wood. When the need arose for a more economical large harp, the flat-back version was designed and offered alongside it. The harp takes its name from Sardis, the magnificent capital of the Lydian civilization near present-day Manisa: a grand, stately instrument.
The stave back is a very special harp-building technique: solid-wood staves, angled with precise mathematics, join to form a rounded body. It produces a deep, rich, powerful voice, and the body is remarkably ergonomic, elegant and light. Today this technique survives among a handful of old-school makers whose yearly output can be counted on one hand — virtually all production harps use pressed-plywood bodies instead. In our workshop we revive this centuries-old craft and blend it with modern technology, reinforcing the body with carbon fiber. The result is a harp body as strong as it is light: the stave-back Sardis projects more powerfully than many pedal harps.
Our 36-string model can be considered equivalent to other makers’ 38- or 40-string harps. Other brands reach those counts by giving up bass strings, adding trebles, and squeezing the treble spacing tightly together. Sardis instead gives up the very top strings that are almost never played — so the harp stays a manageable size, string spacing stays comfortable, and everything remains playable. The harp fits exactly on the back seat of an average car; any larger and it would need special transport. It was designed with real life in mind.
Unbreakable, high-quality brass levers are used throughout. Stringing combines custom-made antique bronze and specially wound bass strings, break-resistant synthetic gut in the mid range, and standard lever-harp strings in the top octaves. Full gut or full synthetic-gut stringing is available on request.
