The stringing of the lyre (1)

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From the seventh century on, Greek lyres were commonly stringed by winding the string round the yoke and binding in some kind of solid piece that the player could push up or down to adjust the tension. Sometimes it seems to have been a straight slip of wood or some other hard material. This is the same means of tuning as was used for the early Mesopotamian lyres.

From the sixth century we also find examples of a method used in Mesopotamia and Egypt in the New Kingdom and still employed in East Africa. The strings are wound on the crossbar over strips of cloth, leather or other material, which sometimes appear as quite bulky bundles.

Bibliography

Erik van Dongen

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