Lyon & Healy Style 23

About the Lyon & Healy Style 23

The Style 23 is a full professional pedal harp, not a lever harp: seven double-action pedals each raise a string's pitch by one or two half-steps in three positions, letting a harpist change key mid-piece the way a piano player would reach for different keys, across the full 47-string range from 00G to 7C. An eighth pedal, unusual even among pedal harps, controls a swell shutter at the back of the soundboard to shape volume - a feature more commonly associated with organs than harps.

The Sitka spruce soundboard carries a double rosewood inlay along its edges, and the whole instrument is heavily ornamented in a design Lyon & Healy has produced essentially unchanged since 1890: floral carving at the crown, column top, base and feet, with a fleur-de-lis motif at the base of the column - explicitly Victorian in style rather than a modern minimalist harp silhouette. At 74 inches tall and 81 pounds, it's built for concert hall use rather than portability.

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Sound character of the Lyon & Healy Style 23

As a full 47-string concert pedal harp with a large Sitka spruce soundboard and rosewood inlay, the Style 23 produces the full, richly resonant low end and wide dynamic range that only a full-size pedal harp's body volume can deliver - the eighth swell pedal further lets a player control volume dynamically, something no lever harp offers.

Technical data for the Lyon & Healy Style 23

The history of the Lyon & Healy Style 23

Lyon & Healy introduced the Style 23's design in 1890 and has kept it in continuous production with only minor updates since, making it one of the longest-running unchanged instrument designs still built today; it remains a staple of American orchestral and conservatory harp sections.