Making an Anglo Saxon Lyre

Also called a Germanic or Northern lyre, I made this instrument from yellow birch for the body (two 3/4" thick pieces were glued together to get the 1-1/2" body), Engelmann spruce top, and walnut bridge and inlays. The strings are nylon guitar strings. Tuning in the demo is FGABCDE.
I've been playing guitar for over 16 years, but this is the first stringed instrument I have made. I learned many things along the way and I would change pretty much every part of the process if I did this again... but in the end, it makes sound so I'm happy with it.
The bridge seen when putting on the strings ended up not being able to stay upright under the tension, which is why it's different from the one seen elsewhere in the video. I will continue experimenting with different bridge designs to see what works the best.
00:00 Body shaping
01:49 Hollowing
02:46 Making the top
07:14 Body inlays
08:51 Bridge
09:36 More hollowing and shaping
11:32 Attaching the top
13:14 Finishing
14:58 Playing the lyre

[@chaseflynn6956]

You did a good job trust me, I ain't no lyre.

[@areareare9953]

*throws tomato* booo hiiisss booo.

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

Haha thanks!

[@lemonlemonlemonlemonlemonlemo]

I’m going to try to make one

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

Great! Thanks for watching

[@bearshield7138]

sweet job

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

Thanks!

[@Llamadosalvaje]

Beautiful content bro! Congratulations!

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

Thanks so much!

[@mylena3086]

Awesome!

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

Thanks for watching!

[@ScandicInstruments]

Nice one man!

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

Thank you!

[@rosemarycarter2415]

Lovely sound and very practical look! I like that you use the eyelets for the strings instead of the ancient way. Going to try and make one...wish me luck!

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

Thanks! I'd love to see how it turns out.

[@mylena3086]

Good luck 🤞

[@jcortese3300]

That's lovely. I saw someone playing one on an old Time Team episode once, and they were getting octave and fifth harmonics out of it as well. If it has 7 strings, that's a LOT of notes you can get out of something fairly small and portable.

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

Thanks! Yep, with harmonics it ends up being a surprisingly versatile instrument considering you can't fret notes on it.

[@hellomate639]

I used a keyhole saw to get through a lot of the wood on my lyre. It saves a lot of wood, so that you still have some nice leftover wood. And, you're left with clean lines that don't require so much chiseling. I then finished the cuts with a japanese saw when they were long enough. You'll also want to be very careful about the shape of the grooves for the strings, I've noticed. Any imperfection and you'll get unnecessary slapping, which results in twang. I think this is what you're hearing on those top two strings. I had to do a lot of tweaking to get the grooves right. Nice work, regardless. Sounds good.

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

Yeah, I regretted my hole cutting method throughout the entire process... I'd do everything very differently next time. I definitely have some bridge experimenting to do, although any buzzing on this has always stemmed from the tuner end. Thanks for watching !

[@Elsureel]

Or just a longer jigsaw blade

[@ServingFromMyHome]

Can you give me a rough estimate on the overall size. I’m gonna make one of these! Love this video

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

I'd love to see how it turns out! The overall dimensions of this one are approximately 27" x 8" x 1.5".

[@Arthur-pc1eh]

Wait, you skipped the previous step to threading the strings through the bottom holes. How the hell did you get them inside and through them in the first place?

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

There's a narrow block inside the body and holes drilled all the way through, so strings can be inserted through the back like an electric guitar.

[@BrianTimmonsTX]

What strings do you use? I’m looking to try a six string setup and I’m lost trying to figure out brands and gauges and all that.

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

These are nylon classical guitar strings. You can buy just the treble strings - not the metal wound ones. Specific strings will depend on instrument size and tuning, but I believe for this lyre, tuned to FGABCDE, I used (low to high) 2 G strings, 3 B strings, and 2 E strings.

[@BrianTimmonsTX]

@@landingbirdwoodworking Thanks so much for the advice!

[@AHagridLookalike]

Did you permanently attach the bridge with glue, or is it held in place only by the string tension?

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

No glue, just held on by tension. I have a couple different bridge designs made, so those can easily be swapped in.

[@AHagridLookalike]

@@landingbirdwoodworking very interesting. Thanks for your response!

[@johnlarkin8226]

What string gauge did you use, and what is the distance from the bridge to the tuning pegs? Also, what is the tuning?

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

They are standard nylon guitar strings, from low to high GGBBBEE, tuned to FGABCDE. That combo of string gauges seems to work well for that tuning and ones close to it. Scale length is approximately 21.5 in/54.5cm.

[@sn0okums10]

Do you sell them?

[@landingbirdwoodworking]

Someday I'd like to, but for now I'm still making everything in my apartment so I don't have much capacity for making projects like this on a regular basis. This is currently the only lyre I have made!