Lyre Blueprints - BACKFILL

     Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find the original blueprints I used. It's not that big of a deal really because it's a very basic design. The Center piece of wood needs to be 30"x11 1/2"x3/4". This piece follows visible outline including the rounded 10 1/2"x7 1/2" cutout for the off-hand, but it also includes another cutout that isn't visible for the sound box (a rounded 15"x7 1/2"). The front and rear panel were cut from one piece of panel (cut in two), and have the same outside dimensions and off-hand cutout dimensions as the frame. The rear panel is done, and the front panel just needs the sound box opening shown.

     The only additional cutting work needed was at the top-rear. The pins for the tuning keys wouldn't be able to breach 1 1/4" thickness. I Ended up doing a 1/2" cut away that barely runs the area covered by the tuning keys. In the picture with a crack of my previous post, you can easily see this area. The rear panel was added afterward.

     The blueprint is a little different in regards to the bridge(s). I chose to use standard guitar strings (0.052", 0.042", 0.032", 0.022", 0.015", and 0.011"), but I wouldn't suggest this. Instead of the wide variety of strings a guitar would use, you should get strings that the gauges aren't so disparate (like 0.032" ,0.027" ,0.024" , 0.023", 0.019",  and 0.017"). This way you don't need  worry about the pressure. The bridge just needs to be functional as the action doesn't really matter, because there are no frets.

Continual Breaking

Today, I was able to practice my lyre a little more, but I had to re-tune it about 4 times before I got fed up with it. Solution: I'll no longer have a C-tuned lyre, but instead I needed to drop it down to a G. So far relieving the pressure has helped reduce further damage to the wood, but now the B and High E strings are overly difficult to tune. I'm considering just sucking it up and getting the correct gauge of harp strings so I don't have too much pressure while at the same time make tuning simpler. If I make another lyre, I'll consider all of this from the beginning, but for now it's just dealing with repairs.

6-String Anglo Saxon Lyre - BACKFILL

The first Instrument that I built was a 6-String Anglo Saxon Lyre. I'll make sure that I post blueprints whenever I find my originals ... or more likely redraw them. For now I'll post the final product.It made an excellent and relatively cheap starting project as the complete list of needs for this one was: a 2" (1.5") thick piece of wood for the frame and bridges (yes, look at the pic, there are 2 bridges), a piece of hardwood paneling for the front and back, 6 guitar tuning keys, package of guitar strings, wood glue, and polyurethane coating. I also used decorative furniture tacks too, and at the time I didn't think that they were necessary let alone helpful, but I experienced some issues that I think they have a hand in alleviating though. It's tuned go the first 6 steps of C (C, D, E, F, G, A) and doesn't include any frets or other way to change the note. That simply means that like a harp, each string is a note, and unlike a harp, it has a total of 6 notes. Because I'm using standard guitar strings I had to shorted the length of the Low E string with a separate bridge and in general overtighten the Low E, A and D strings to make then play the C3, D3, and E3. In doing this I can just buy a new pack of standard guitar strings and not order strings with a special diameter.

The problem I ran into unfortunately, was due to poor planning. I didn't realize that adding more and more pressure to the strings would add more and more pressure to the wood as well. This lapse in common sense caused the wood to bow, and the wood bowing caused the lyre to be out of tune. It being Out of tune forced my to increase the pressure to the strings, and so on. Finally, the frame cracked. I added some screws to the damaged area (ugly) which holds it for now (ugly), but I'm still contending with the wood bowing (ugly), and I'm afraid that it may break in another spot too. For now though, it's a minor inconvenience that I'll need to remedy later.

A Not-So Startling Start

Rough draft blueprint.

     It's either an indication of how lazy I am or how busy I am, but I'm just getting around to writing a ((we)b)log of my travails at building instruments. Currently I'm an unabashed neophyte in the terms of woodworking, but what I lack in expertise I certainly make up for in incompetence. Really, what I intend to do, is learn form my mistakes. This doesn't mean that I just accept whatever comes my way, but I may settle with things that I don't necessarily understand how to fix.
     I've already built a 6-string Anglo-Saxon Lyre and will back-fill information about it when I get overly busy. This may be sooner than later as winters in Ohio tend to force me inside. Since putting it together and playing it for about a year it already has a large crack in the frame that I had to fix. It's a very simple instrument with a simple design (that I nevertheless ended up screwing up a little) which made it a good choice for a beginning project.
     My current project is a 3-String Guitar (DGB) pictured in the image above. I've started with the main sound-box cuts and am trying my hardest at rasping away at the Katalox neck. I'm sort of at a standstill until I build a steam box to bend the wood. I'll add more if/when I actually get move work done on it.