Eala Harps

Eala Harps Handcrafted Irish Harps- Continuing a tradition handed down to Tomas MacUileagóid by the late Colm Ó Meachair

Eala Harps -founded by Dublin Harpmaker, Tomás MacUileagóid. Standard 34 string Irish harp with Camac semi tone levers. Tomás was trained as a harpmaker by the late pioneer of Harpmaking, Colm Ó Meachair. Tomás has continued and evolved the tradition he received in creating top quality modern harps. All Eala harps have inlay of a swan cut from native bog oak. All spruce soundboards on the harps come from Switzerland, and the timber is only felled when the moon is in certain phases!

Latest Eala harp for sale. 34 string, high tension harp with a big sound. Contact me for details.
09/12/2025

Latest Eala harp for sale. 34 string, high tension harp with a big sound. Contact me for details.

40 years of harp making in Rathfarnham. The latest Eala Harp on the left and a recently restored Colm Ó Meachair harp fr...
28/11/2025

40 years of harp making in Rathfarnham. The latest Eala Harp on the left and a recently restored Colm Ó Meachair harp from the 1980’s on the right!

An Taoiseach, Mícheál Martin playing an Eala Harp at the EXPO in Osaka.
04/07/2025

An Taoiseach, Mícheál Martin playing an Eala Harp at the EXPO in Osaka.

Latest Eala Harp getting its final testing…
17/06/2025

Latest Eala Harp getting its final testing…

More photos of the copy of the Egan 37
14/12/2024

More photos of the copy of the Egan 37

Spending a week in the company of a Wire Strung Irish harp!As a harp maker I don't often interact with wire strung Irish...
14/12/2024

Spending a week in the company of a Wire Strung Irish harp!
As a harp maker I don't often interact with wire strung Irish harps or the Historical Harp society. This week was an exception.
A 19th Century wire strung harp arrived in for re-stringing. This was based on the revolutionary John Egan harp from the 1820's.This was no doubt a copy, with a 5 stave back , as opposed to Egan's which had a round back.
What intrigued me most was the soundboard , made of spruce.I had the impression that all wire-strung harps had a soundboard of willow or similar. It transpires that Egan designed this model for the tradition bearers of the ancient way of playing.
Having no expertise in this area, I contacted Simon Chadwick in Armagh and arranged a visit.
A day that will live long in my memory. Simon had never come across this copy of Egan before and was delighted to measure it and assess. We both concluded that this harp would not take the tension a fully tuned harp, but the owner was interested in getting it strung up properly to restore the integrity of the harp visually.
Because of woodworm and structural repairs we couldn't hear the sound of this masterpiece.
However, Sylvia Crawford was also there and has just received a new copy of the Egan 37.
Sylvia has also spent years trying to re learn the ancient methodology for playing the wire strung harp. She kindly played for me on her new wire strung harp, and I have to say the sound and experience was breath taking. The resonance, harmonics and overtones penetrated straight through my body. Previously I had heard wire strung harps, but the spruce soundboard is the game changer , in terms of projection and sound scape.

Simon took a series of photos which I post here, with his permission.

Lovely Eala Harp for sale in native Wicklow Cherry. This harp has higher string tension than most Irish harps and will s...
08/12/2024

Lovely Eala Harp for sale in native Wicklow Cherry. This harp has higher string tension than most Irish harps and will suit a player who is familiar with concert harp tension. Pm for details.

15/09/2024
Complex restoration of a Dan Quinn harp from 1967. Hopefully there will be 50 more years in her!
15/09/2024

Complex restoration of a Dan Quinn harp from 1967.
Hopefully there will be 50 more years in her!

12/08/2024

Testing the latest Eala Harp

Latest Eala harp. 34 string in native cherry with ‘moon spruce’ soundboard and round back soundbox. PM for details.
10/08/2024

Latest Eala harp. 34 string in native cherry with ‘moon spruce’ soundboard and round back soundbox. PM for details.

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Rathfarnham

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