Chris Nogy's Medieval instrument Projects |
WHAT EXACTLY IS A GERMANIC LYRE YOU ASK? Vertical harps with 2 arms also known as lyre harps or "lyres" began appearing in ancient Sumaria by 2800 BC. Some of the oldest carvings of harps were discovered in Phoenicia with marble harp statuettes found dating back to 3,000 - 2,300 BC. The development of the lyre harp in Greece also coincided with the development of mathematical musical scales. After those centuries of obscurity in the historical record, the lyre precursor to the triangular Medieval harp reappeared in Western European civilization. In the fourth century AD, monk vocalizations predating Gregorian chanting were used in worship services in the Christian Church. The harp became a preferred instrument for accompaniment for the monks' voices. The harp was one of the few instruments allowed in the early church where the horn, drum and rattles were considered the devil's instruments. During the fifth century, the Papal Music School was established in Ireland where the lyre harp was taught. Fragments of a six-stringed lyre were found in the 7th-century burial ship unearthed at Suffolk in England. The remains of several Germanic lyres, dating from the fifth through the tenth century, have been found in Saxon and Frankish graves in Germany and England. |
There are few craftsmen today that still build these historic instruments. And even fewer as knowledgeable and skilled as Mr Nogy! Here's a little bit about this project; |
This is the second Trossingen style lyre to come out of the shop. It is sort of a parody, the middle step between the actual reproduction that Fionn built and the way-out full electric Fender-style solid body that is the next project. But just because it is silly, doesn't mean it has to be built badly. I followed closely the work that Fionn did on hers, and with a few modifications necessary to hide the electronics, built mine from what she learned on her project. The parts are all made out of the correct materials, the soundboard is properly shaped, it is pretty much a good replica except that I increased it's overall thickness by about 3/16 inch to accommodate the volume and tone potentiometers. |
Here is the basic hollowed corpus with the pickup set laid out for sizing. I had it made a bit big, but you can specify how you would like it wired. The guys at JJB Electronics are very helpful. These are very responsive and sensitive pickups - before deciding how to do the installation on this lyre I attached these pickups to the soundboards of several of my other finished lyres, and the sound is terrific from them. |
The soundboard is cut and profiled, waiting to be glued on. Neat thing about hide glue, if I need to fix something later, I can remove the soundboard without damage. That's cool. Not the holes where the original beechwood pegs went through the soundboard of the lyre - this is how I am hiding the tone and volume knobs - they will be these dowels. A small dot of 5 minute epoxy on the button pickups (just a tiny bit - it will hold) under the soundboard at the feet of the bridge and it's ready to be joined |
The business end of the lyre. Maple tailpiece, willow bridge, the cheapest black nylon Ernie Ball ball end guitar treble sets I could buy. The soundboard 'dowels' (actually the volume and tone controls) are made of beechwood. The tailpiece has been drilled for ball end or tie-in strings. The tailgut puts just a bit of pressure on the volume knob - keeps it in place. |
OK, the final product. Hand made tablet weave strap, the body stained with dark brown Briwax, the bridge and tailpiece left natural for contrast. Really an instrument I am proud of.The instrument is completely playable, jacked into an amp. It has a pretty cool sound, and with the cable comes a variety of optional effects boxes. I have already played it through my sound board in my computer, through my old Fender TKO 80 bass amp, and through my little smokey Supro pocket amp - it is cool through all 3. This was definitely a really cool project, and very worthwhile. So far this has been a very neat escape - many of my more authenticity driven friends are dismayed, but most of the local music crowd is very enthusiastic about the pair of electric instruments I am building. I am even getting discounts from a few of the local music stores, with the promise of course that they get to play around with the instruments. Perhaps this will open up a little bit of a new performance venue - there are many little battery operated belt amps (I use a Supro - a bit overdriven and distorted, granted, but fun until I find one of the little pocket marshal stacks for cheap) and with hidden cable (I am covering mine in a lucet woven silk cord 'sleeve' and hiding my amp in a custom leather belt pouch) there are some venues that were previously impractical for an instrument like this - such as outdoor SCA events and actually playing with other instruments - not a period thing to do, but fun with the right folks. |
This is just one of many cool instruments built by Mr. Nogy. Click here to go to his website and check them all out! |
Thanks Chris! |
MADE WITH PRIDE IN THE USA |