Parts of a Harp – Labeled Pedal Harp Diagram

All 10 parts on the diagram

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The frame 4

Crown The decorated cap on top of the column. Not every harp has one.
Column The longest side of the harp, also called the pillar. It holds the neck up against the pull of the strings. On a pedal harp it is hollow, and the pedal rods run up inside it.
Neck The top end of every string is fixed here. The neck also holds the mechanism that the pedals work.
Base The column and the body stand on it. It holds the seven pedals. It is also called the pedestal or pedal box.

Strings and body 3

Strings A pedal harp usually has 47, seven to each octave. Each runs from the neck down to the soundboard and is plucked with the fingers.
Soundboard The flat front of the body. Each string passes through a hole in it and is held there by a knot.
Body A hollow box, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. It resonates when a string is plucked and sends the sound out.

Pedals and tuning 3

Pedals Seven foot levers, one for each note of the scale. Pressing one changes every string of that note at once.
Tuning pins Each string is wound round one. Turning the pin tightens or loosens the string.
Discs Two for each string, turned by the pedals. A disc has two studs that grip the string as it turns, which shortens the string and raises its note.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it for this part. (1) Wikipedia, text only: Pedal harp (47 strings, seven to the octave; an upright pillar, sometimes with a crown; soundboard; the curved neck that holds the action; a base with seven pedals and which note each works; a rod in the column from each pedal; discs with two pegs that pinch the string and shorten it) and Harp (neck, tuning peg, sounding board, the hollow body that resonates, the string held in the soundboard by a knot, the column or pillar and what it is for, levers on harps without pedals). (2) Kathleen Schlesinger, The Instruments of the Modern Orchestra, 1910, chapter XXVI, full text on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/instrumentsofmod01schl (pedestal or pedal box with seven pedals; the pillar as a tunnel for the seven rods; body or soundchest and its flat soundboard; strings knotted through holes in the soundboard; the curved neck; tuning pins round which the strings are wound; two rows of brass discs, each with two studs that grasp the string and shorten it). (3) Lyon and Healy, a harp maker's 1924 catalog on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/lyon-healy-harps-1924 (column, base, crown, neck, sounding board, body, tuning pins, discs, pedals, pedal rods through the column). The Yamaha guide the plan named has no harp. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain curves; no maker's harp, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

A harp is a triangle: a column in front, a neck across the top and a hollow body behind, with the strings between them. A pedal harp adds seven pedals in its base.

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Around the frame

Numbers 1 to 8 are the whole harp. The crown tops the column at the front. The neck curves from the column to the body. The strings run from the neck down to the soundboard, the flat face of the hollow body. Everything stands on the base, where the pedals are.

How a pedal changes the note

Numbers 9 and 10 are on the neck: a tuning pin for each string and, under it, two discs. Press a pedal and a rod inside the column turns the discs for every string of that note. The studs on a disc grip the string and shorten it, so it sounds higher.

The seven pedals match the seven note names: D, C and B on the left, E, F, G and A on the right.
A harp without pedals may have a small lever by each string instead, which raises that one string.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a harp called?

The column, or pillar, at the front, often topped by a crown; the curved neck with its tuning pins; the strings; the soundboard and the hollow body behind it; and the base. A pedal harp also has seven pedals and rows of discs.

How many strings does a harp have?

A concert pedal harp typically has 47 strings, seven to each octave, which gives it a six-and-a-half-octave range.

What do the pedals on a harp do?

Each of the seven pedals changes every string of one note name. A rod in the column links the pedal to discs on the neck, which grip those strings and shorten them so they sound higher.

What is the column of a harp for?

It holds the neck up against the great pull of the strings. On a pedal harp the column is also hollow, and the rods from the pedals run up inside it.