How the lyre-guitar makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the lyre-guitar belongs to the lutes: strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck – the family of the guitar, violin, sitar and oud.
More broadly it is one of the chordophones (string instruments), where sound comes from vibrating strings, amplified by a resonating body.
Players shape its sound through technique and materials; the resonating body filters the raw vibration, boosting some harmonics and damping others.
From Wikipedia
A musical instrument of the chordophone family, the lyre-guitar was a type of guitar shaped to look like a lyre, popular as a fad-instrument in the early 1800s. It had six single courses, with a fretboard located between two curved arms recalling the shape of the ancient Greek kithara. It was tuned and played like the conventional guitar.
The lyre-guitar nearly always had a built-in pedestal allowing it to stand upright when not in use.
Other lutes
Frequently asked questions
What does a lyre-guitar sound like?
As one of the lutes, its sound comes from the way strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck.
What type of instrument is the lyre-guitar?
It is classified as lutes (Hornbostel–Sachs 321.322-5).
Sources & credits
- Wikidata Q3675195 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Lyre-guitar – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by sguastevi – CC BY-SA 3.0