Total height 137.8 cm
Maximum width 69.2 cm
Weight 4.5 kg
Material wood, bone (?)
Nr. of strings 36
Longest string 117.5 cm
Tuning diatonic (range F2-F7)

Gift of Alfredo Rolando Ortiz

Epifanio Lopez was the maker of the harps used by the most famous Paraguayan harpist and composer, Felix Perez Cardoso. Born in Hyaty in 1912, Lopez, upon request of his friend Perez Cardoso, created in 1936 the shape of the modern Paraguayan harp; particularly, he invented the split or double neck, which houses the strings inside. The soundbox is constructed of six staves, with one round sound hole in the back. The instrument is decorated with light-colored intarsia, probably bone, besides a painted dark silhouette of a Red Indian’s head, personal trademark of the maker.