So here's my technique for hollowing the body plank. I set the drill press to leave 1/8" below the tip of the spike. Then I use a chisel to remove the webs between holes and smooth the edges.
Oberflacht Lyre started
That Cologne lyre is mine. It's about 8" wide x 22" long and tapers from 1-1/8" thick at the bottom to 5/8" thick at the tuners. It's hollowed out all under the mango top, even up the arms. I've offered it for sale a couple times, but no takers. Maybe they think that the bridge is yellow plastic not real amber or something...
It has a nice quiet tone, perfect 'porch' instrument or "personal music maker".
Wow... Ken that 5th century style, spalted mango top lyre you made is just gorgeous. Did you make that for someone, or for yourself?
--
Site Owner
Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990
Cute, Irene! We argue all the time about whether it should be pronounced "leer" or "liar".
Here's the first Lyre I made a few years ago. It's more or less a reconstruction of a 5th century (Charlemagne era) lyre from a grave site near what is now Cologne, Germany. Maple, body, spalted Mango soundboard, Baltic amber bridge, tailpiece of pear wood, and ukulele strings! On this one I opted for autoharp tuning pegs rather than tapered wooden pegs. The next ones will have tapered wood pegs.
Well, when I get this one put together I'll see what I can come up with for a sound clip or two...
Would love to eventually hear a clip of these lyres playing a simple tune or just hearing them being plucked, Ken.
Fun!
--
Site Owner
Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990
These are/were 6 string lyres -- "Pentatonic+" as it is thought of ... I tune them in the simple pentatonic do, re, mi, sol, la, Do.
Kolrosing is such an easy (for values of 'easy') way to add really intricate decoration. You do have to be able to follow the lines though!
That's very cool, Ken!
My recently commissioned epinette in pearwood has kolrosing designs as well. It's a wonderful way to decorate wood items and instruments. My future Langspil will feature kolrosing as well.
How many strings are these two lyres going to have, Ken?
--
Site Owner
Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990
updated by @strumelia: 10/19/17 03:23:04PM
I was recently gifted with some beautiful wood to make a couple of lyres. I have Myrtle and Maple for body planks and soundboards, as well as Port Orford Cedar for soundboards. Lyres have "carved" bodies about an inch thick, hollowed out to a 1/4" or less thick back, and a soundboard applied over the top.
The ones I'm reconstructing here are based on instruments found in an archaeological dig near Oberflacht, Germany, before WWII. The graves are from a "pre-German" or Allemanic site dated to the late 600s AD.
This one will have a Myrtle body and a Port Orford Cedar soundboard decorated, as you can see, by "kalrose carved" designs. Kalrose carving is to wood as scrimshaw is to bone/horn. The designs were taken from some standing stones I visited while in Scotland. The "Celtic knotwork" type designs were popular all over western Europe and the British Isles.
updated by @ken-hulme: 10/27/19 12:02:25PM
