New! Standard Lyre model
This is my new standard model made to the Sutton Hoo pattern but with a
one piece body, metal tuning pins and the
fluorocarbon strings.
The important part of the Lyre is the maple soundboard,
standard on all my lyres. The body wood is maple hollowed out.These lyres come with my "student" setup with metal tuning pins and fluorocarbon strings and tailgut that allows you to focus on playing rather than constant tuning
For an extra £100 these lyres can be supplied with the same wooden pegs as the Sutton hoo copies, though historically acurate this has little effect on sound as the main element to the Germanic Lyres are the maple soundboards and the dimensions.
These standard models do not have separate string arms but are of one piece like mainland lyres, practically no difference and these sound the same as the more expensive lyres.
These lyre come with a synthetic gut tailpiece with wood string holder, willow Trossingen style bridge and comes complete with tuning key. There is a choice of arm mount metals such as Brass(in the picture) or hammered copper, bronze, or for £25 extra for plain Sterling silver, plain or embossed with serpent/weave pattern.
Linseed oil based undercoat with a choice of top finishes .
£1050
Morning Thorpe Lyre
This Lyre is known only by its copper alloy mounts that are attached at an angle. I have chosen to make this a starter Lyre, for people intersted in the Lyres sounds/use but dont want to worry about wooden tuning pegs and gut strings. I offer 2 types of end button styles.The example below has an oak body with Maple soundboard Nylgut strings and zither pin tuning pegs but wooden pegs are standard on this lyre.
£1200
Bergh Apton Lyre
This instrument is made of Sycamore/maple throughout with brass mounts. bands, and which includes a hand strap and pins.
I can provide this instrument with rear or front mounted pegs
£1650
(also available in oak and maple for £900)
Trossington Lyres
I am working over the 2011 and 2012 on my version of this from german maple and decorated with inscised limes and charcoal/black pigment
£2750
Plain/undecorated versions of these will also be available in 2012
Prittlewell Lyre
This Lyre is similer to the snape Lyre in that it has circular mounts, as this instrument is still under conservation/investigation my current interpretation has just plain mounts and rear mounted Sutton hoo style pegs.
£POA (metal mounts will be available once the data has been released)
Snape Lyre
This instrument has an oak soundboard which has a more muted sound when plucked but sounds great when strummed!! It has plain circular mounts like the Prittlewell Lyre. I tend to make this lyre a little smaller than the other Lyres and like to tune it up higher.
£1200
More Lyres
I plan to add the little cologne Lyre tuned to C at some point, this will cost around £1200 The trossingen Lyre I hope to add as soon as I finish my prototypes, These will be around £1000 undecorated
Choices
All of my instruments are handmade from solid wood, the non student models come with separate strings arms morticed into the top of the instrument which is the Anglo Saxon practise.
Great care goes into choice of timber for these instruments.
The Bridge is Boxwood and the Tailpiece Yew with Gut strings. Pegs are made from a variety of Yew or Boxwood (Poplar/Willow on demand) I can make instruments with pegs tuned from the front like the Sutton Hoo model in the British museum or from behind (Like the trossingen example)which works better physically as strings pull the pegs tight in the string arm. With the Sutton Hoo peg type you have to apply firm pressure* when tuning to avoid the peg coming out, which is something you learn about rather quickly anyhow!
*from
2005 l
intoduded an improved type of tuning key, made
of 6
pieces of wood that replaced the older carved
socket tuning
keys I used to make, these work well. The Trossingen Lyres spade pegs use a different key though you can turn it by hand. just.
On
the Sutton Hoo model these soundboard pins come as standard but I can
add them to other models, each pin/brad is hand cut. +£100Cases are £150 extra where not included in price pine, plywood, painted black with velvet cloth inside.
