Thanks for the reply. Guess I will need to ask the maker whether he ships to Germany 😀

Hi @Jost , thank you!

They are Wittner 'hidden gears' tuners, viola sized. Extremely smooth and easy to tune.

This instrument is 35" long, so little violin sized tuners would have been kinda silly looking on it. Also the strings are longer/thicker than violin strings as well, so it makes sense.

Beautiful tune and instrument. Are these traditional violin style wooden tuners? Are they hard to tune? 

Regards, jost

Love this, beautiful instrument and beautifully played.

The Three Ravens on langspil and over your shoulder.  Such a haunting tune! 

Marg, I'm not sure what you are asking. My langspil has only 3 strings. In this recording I am tuned to the key of C and in an aeolian type tuning which if I were in D it would be DAC. My tonic note of C on the melody string is at the first fret. My open melody string is one step down from that at Bb.
Can you explain your question in more detail so I can understand it better?

If you would have a fret board tuned to either DAd or DAA what combination would you use for drones - either 3 & 3 or 6 drones?

Betty thanks so much for your nice post.  :)

Oh my, I've been away from the site far too long. I've missed this. How wonderful. My favorite mournful music is still out there. I am wanting to bow something. You are such an inspiration. Thanks for sharing this wonderful instrument and tune. Well done.

BJ

We haven't heard much about this langspil since you first got it. You certainly have that haunting ancient tone down already in this video.  Have you continued playing it?  How do you choose what tunes would work well?

Lisa, thanks for sharing Three Ravens. I thought you did well. I appreciate you comment on playing with expression. Right on! And your comment on being happy to be an amateur home musician is spot on as well. It certainly echoes my approach to music. Thanks for that as well.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

@sam - thank you but I must correct your statement about my playing many instruments well.  I play several instruments crudely, but with expression . Playing with expression is vastly underrated- it can hide poor technique - listeners can still connect with the music's feeling . Playing with expression covers a multitude of sins!  (though you still can't fool a true professional musician that way) 

I'm happy to be an amateur home musician because I play to please myself and for the simple joys it gives me in my daily life.   :)

Thank you both!
@brian-g , yes that is indeed sad. From reading, I found that the Icelandic langspil had just about become 'extinct' by the 1900s.  Several travelers had described it and how it was played, collected a specimen, and drawn it in the early to mid 1800s, it was a traditional rural instrument. In the 1960s a singer named Anna staged a revival to bring it back, but it still did not become much more than a curiosity -i suspect because of its rustic drone nature and its association with old hymn repertoire... the sound is an acquired taste in modern times.  ;)

The luthier Michael King in the UK is very talented and makes many types of instruments, such as lyres and crewths. This is the 3rd instrument he has made for me over the past 10 years- also a jouhikko and an epinette des Vosges last year. He is very creative and talented, but my favorite thing is that he will accommodate all the special requests I have for a particular custom instrument.  He'll build to whatever scale size, string spacings, engraved or carved decorations, special finish... whatever I've asked him to do he has done and done it well. 
I think he finds it interesting the things I come up with.  So when I work with him we go over every detail and exchange detailed drawings and lists of specs. The careful planning has always come out great in the end.  For example, he had never done a finish like this one- distressed white paint made to look old, with 'kolrosing' cut designs on top of the paint.  We also flipped the script by putting the softwood on the sides and bottom, and a hardwood on the instrument top, to accommodate the kolrosing better- he assured me it would not effect the sound badly.  Cool!  The pegs are Wittner geared viola pegs- so fine tuning is a breeze... delightful!   :)  It's the bowing that is the real challenge, but the compelling bowed sound is I think worth the work to get better at it. It's the whole reason I wanted this.

Wow...that was wonderful!  I absolutely love the sound of that langspil being bowed.  You know, it's kind of sad - I visited Iceland not too long ago, and it was very difficult for me to even find a shop that sold langspils.  When I finally found one, it had two very poorly made instruments sitting in a windowsill and nobody in the store (all younger people) had any idea how to play it or even what it really was. Keep the music alive, Strumelia!  :)

I find the instrument and the musician fascinating. You play many instruments well. You have a much envied gift. thanks for sharing.

(Oh, I'm going to build a Tennessee music box one day).

Thank you Sam. The bowed sound of the langspil gives me the chills, too. I'm so thrilled to have this instrument! 

The only other instrument I can compare this haunting sound to is in a few existing videos of people bowing their Tennessee music boxes- another large 'table zither' that is wider than the langspil. The langspil is like a slender music box with a curved bout.

I can certainly tune ionian to play cheerful tunes as well, and will be doing so. But right now, in the dead of winter, I have a whole slew of melancholy minor tunes I've been wanting to play for ages. They all sound better on this bowed langspil than on my other strummed instruments, so I'm going to be playing 'on the dark side' for a while. Hope folks can put up with it!

Jeepers ... gave me chills! (Good ones) Knowing a little of the history of this particular instrument I'm so happy to see that the two of you have taken up so well. I had not heard a langspil bowed before. Love the deep, throaty voice.

You all are very kind- thank you! 

BTW, I was using a noter made for me as a gift years ago
by FOTMD's own @john-henry 

Wow!! There's nothing like the sound of a bowed Langspil, to stir a music lover's heart. Thank you!

That thing sounds extra good Lisa. And you can f'sure play it too.