Surprisingly, I chose to focus my Greek mythology project—which we had to do for school—on the musician and hero Orpheus. He used his skill with the lyre to woo Pluto into letting his deceased wife return to the living world to be with him. So, using quarter-inch wood, fishing wire, and eyelet screws, I created a functional lyre. Read on to learn how to make a ancient lyre.

Since I couldn’t find any nice ones, I opted to create my own instead of looking for an instructable or ready-made design. What created did I? a wooden lyre with real tuning ability. It is silent since it lacks a sound box.

How did I succeed?

I came up with my own method for symmetry and developed my own design utilising large circular objects as guidelines and used my dad’s jigsaw to cut the rounded curves, then I contoured it using sandpaper.

This was something that I made. I prepared it for school mostly in the garage and on the kitchen floor.

What did I learn?

I learned that veneers can be annoying because they regularly rip off when you need to sand and found that fishing wire is far more flexible than a standard violin string, making tuning it more challenging and necessitating more frequent tuning. Also, I found that designing is actually quite straightforward if you weren’t expecting a musical instrument but rather a depiction. It is a fortunate happenstance that it can be tuned and executed. I mastered the “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” on the lyre. Than, I put a lot of effort into it, and the result was an A+. I built it, basically cut it, tuned it, and learned how to play a song on it.

What is lyre?

Hence, Ancient Greeks used the lyre, a stringed instrument, which was arguably the most significant and well-known instrument in the Greek world. So, It shared a strong relationship with the other stringed instruments, such as the kithara, which has seven strings, the four-string phorminx, and the tortoiseshell-made chelys.

Specifically, At a variety of events, including official banquets, symposia (private drinking parties), religious ceremonies, funerals, and musical competitions like those held at the renowned Panathanaia, Pythia, and Karneia festivals, the lyre was played either by itself or as an accompaniment to singing or lyric poetry.

What did lyre mean?

likewise, The lyre, an extremely early version of the guitar, was one of the instruments that ancient Greek musicians particularly loved to play. A lyre featured strings that you could pluck to produce sound, just like a guitar. A sound box was present on a lyre, just like on a guitar, to amplify the sound. On a guitar, though, you can change the note by pressing down on the strings. Though, Greek musicians had fewer notes at their disposal since lyres lacked that.

How many strings were there on ancient lyres?

Materials & Design for Lyres

Between the crossbar and a fixed tailpiece (chordotonon), seven strings (neurai or chordai) of similar length but different thickness (often made from sheep gut) may be played by hand plucking or strumming using a plectrum typically made of wood, ivory, or metal.

A lyre is constructed of what kind of wood?

Moreover, Boxwood and holm-oak are just two of the different varieties of wood that are referenced in the literature. The Elgin Lyre, a fragmentary instrument with sycamore-clad arms, is still on display in the British Museum. Although twisted sinew, flax, or even horsehair may have been utilised, gut was the primary material used to make strings.

Step by Step Guide

Step 1: Making the Template

Firstly, I drew the fundamental contours of the lyre on a piece of wrapping paper using a huge lid, a tin, and a cup. I then used thin paper (a paper towel) to transfer the image to the other side while maintaining its symmetry.

Step 2: Making the Pattern

Secondly, placing the template on the opposite side and allowing a Sharpie to bleed through will allow you to replicate it to the other side. Connect the dots after removing the paper towel.

Step 3: Cut the Lyre

Than, tape the pattern that has been cut out onto a sheet of 1/4″ plywood with veneer. To match the pattern, use a jigsaw or another tool that can cut curved surfaces smoothly. Additionally, make a 1-and-1/2 inch bar that fits across the top and a little part from the scrap as indicated in the second photo.

Step 4: Assembly and Waiting

First, sand the edges smooth using coarse sandpaper, making sure to move in the veneer’s direction. To prevent the veneer from peeling, first lightly go over the edges, then very lightly go over both faces. Elmer’s wood glue was used to assemble it. Place the bar a few centimetres below the lyre’s scrolls and the crescent a few below the scooping portion of the lyre. Place it with glue and a clamp, being careful not to tighten it too much because it may dent the wood.

Step 5: Tuning

Afterwards, Drill six holes in the elevated crescent and six holes on the top before partially inserting the eyelet screws. To serve as a stopper, cut two pieces of cardboard with holes that line up with three of the holes in each of them. Fishing wire should be cut to length to span the lyre. Once attached to the cardboard one at a time, the fishing wire should be strung through the lyre and fastened to the eyelet screws. So, The strings can now be tuned by tightening the screws, which will also tighten the strings. If they are unable to be tightened sufficiently, unscrew them almost all the way while maintaining the string slack by adjusting it on the eyelet. Then, tighten them again. It will create noise, keep silent, but the scroll will sound loud if you push it to your ear, making it simple to adjust.

Play it in Step 6:

Finally, put on a tune! The song “Twinkle” is good. The leftmost string was tuned to A, then B, #C, D, E, and #FAAEE#F#FE DD#C#CBBA are the keys to Twinkle. EEDD#C#CB EEDD#C#CB AAEE#F#FE DD#C#CBBA.

For Tutorial on how to make an ancient lyre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0titFBDqDM

December 24, 2022

How to make a ancient lyre

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