DIY Kmise Lyre Kit

[@MusicalMollyKhan]

I love the idea of the electric lyre! I'm glad you were able to finish it well enough to get it together :)

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks Molly. As I mentioned on your page... you're videos are the inspiration for this instrument. :-)

[@TheHangingWood]

Very nice, buying the kit instead of one of the legion of pre-assembled cheap lyres on eBay and Amazon is you can turn it into something decent. One more sound improvement you could make is swap the strings to nylon ones. BTW the lyre is not in the harp family. It's in the guitar/violin/banjo/cello family, in fact its the grandaddy of that family.

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for the info! Thanks for stopping by.

[@jfrankcarr]

Looks like an interesting build, especially with the added electronics. Yes, those pins are a pain to deal with. I restrung and refelted an autoharp for a friend a few years ago, 36 strings, all on zither pins.

[@musicalmiscellany]

Glad you liked it. That sounds like a miserable experience tuning 36 zithers Frank. I will say this, now that the strings have stretched a bit, they're less of a pain... but its still hard to stop a note from going sharp. Sometimes its just a fraction of a turn from flat to sharp. Ugh.

[@rrrosecarbinela]

Try a bowed psaltery sometime... 20+ strings, each with its own tuning pin... but such a beautiful sound!

[@MariaCalfaDePaul]

that is so cool. That you made it Electric. I can't wait to hear it with effects etc and what you come up with!! cool beans ahh I just watched the END> LOVE THAT SHIMMER. sounded great!!!

[@musicalmiscellany]

Sounds like a choir of angles huh? Ha ha.

[@stevesstrings5243]

That is pretty cool! I have thought about trying to make a cigar box lyre! I will definitely need to do some research to figure out the correct scale and strings.

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks Steve. I really like it but yeah... I wouldn't have a guess on scale or string guage. I could measure this one but I'm sure there's a guide online somewhere.

[@kittylitteral5417]

can you get a piece of dowl and drill a hole in it to put over the tuning tool to make it longer?

[@musicalmiscellany]

You could definitely do that provided you had a drill bit that was close in size to the wrench (for a snug fit). If the hole was too big, I'd imagine you could glue it or wrap the metal in tape. Good suggestion.

[@irene1234]

Nice review. Question, is the bridge glued in or just held in place by the string tension?

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for checking out the video. There’s a slot in the wood and the saddle drops into the slot. It’s not glued in. You could easily do that if that’s what you wanted though.

[@MariaCalfaDePaul]

also they have better "wrenches"...but you would have to try and figure out the size so probably not cost effective. ...I agree about the darn zither pins what a pain!

[@musicalmiscellany]

Yeah, they make you appreciate geared tuners.

[@rrrosecarbinela]

Very cool.

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks. It was a fun little build.

[@josephpolz5881]

Which exact pick up did you use? And what else do I need to electify it?

[@musicalmiscellany]

I used a 35mm piezo disc hot glued to the back of the soundboard and wired directly to a 1/4" jack. I believe I purchased the parts from www.CBGitty.com but you can find them from a lot of parts retailers. A smaller piezo (e.g. 27mm) would work just as well but I used what I had on hand. Piezo pickups amplify vibrations so it will pick up signal as long as it's mounted in a spot has has good resonance.

[@7dnein944]

Does it still stand? Just bought one of these

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks for watching. I still have it and still play it from time to time. It seems to have held up well after the mods I did.

[@chefleo3436]

Groovy man...

[@musicalmiscellany]

Thanks Chef.

[@jonkatzenfreund6388]

I'm surprised 😺👍🎶Great😻

[@musicalmiscellany]

It came out really nice. A fun little lyre to play.

[@jonkatzenfreund6388]

@@musicalmiscellany Think to buy this kit and paint on it with cats 😺🎨🎶