Victor Salvi, who reigned for decades as the world’s foremost maker of harps, died on May 10 in Milan. He was 95.

His death was announced by his company, Salvi Harps, of Piasco, Italy.

Mr. Salvi, a former member of the New York Philharmonic who was equal parts harpist, artisan, engineer and evangelist, established the company in 1956. With his acquisition in 1987 of Lyon & Healy, the venerable Chicago harp maker and his only major competitor, he came to preside over a genial global monopoly.

Prized for their power and sonority, Salvi harps are played today by many of the finest soloists and orchestral musicians in the world. Prince Charles became the owner of one in 2006, when Mr. Salvi presented him with an ornate, heavily gilded instrument known as the Prince of Wales harp. That instrument has since been played by the official royal harpist at many imperial functions, including the wedding reception of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011.

More than any other orchestral instrument, the harp is a machine, weighing some 90 pounds and comprising more than a thousand moving parts. Though it typically has only 47 strings, it is able to achieve a six-and-a-half-octave range by means of a set of pedals, which control a sophisticated mechanism that raises or lowers the pitch of the strings.