Tim Hampson – Harp Maker

Bere Ferrers has an enviable reputation for prod

ucing good music. Singers and players of all types of instruments are to be found here. The village can also proudly claim to have a resident who is an internationally famous and gifted harp maker and restorer.

Tim Hampson’s childhood experiences of listening to concert harpists and Harpo Marx got him hooked on the instrument.

In his early thirties, he found a pedal harp in very poor condition in a second-hand shop. He took it home, experimented and produced a copy of it. He gained a place in the department of Musical Instrument Technology at the London College of Furniture. For two years, he learned his craft, then joined a leading harp business as their sole craftsman and workshop manager.

His workshop is an Aladdin’s cave of drawings, harps of many sizes in various stages of construction or restoration and all the machinery, varnishes and tools of his trade. He works mostly with sycamore, but will use a variety of woods, depending on the client’s design wishes; a current project is to produce an Irish harp with the soundbox hollowed-out of a single piece of willow.

He showed me his restoration of a most exquisite single action pedal harp, which was commissioned by a professional concert harpist and his copy of a single action Erard harp. Both date from the 1790s-early 1800s and are incredibly detailed and ornate.

Tim still attends the Edinburgh Harp Festival where he obtains commissions from clients around the world and still finds time to play at events in the village.