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