Preventing dampening/buzzing on a lyre - advice needed

[David Harrison]

Hello I have a quick question if anyone could help I'd appreciate it.

I plan to have the strings between a zither pin at the base and a thick dowel at the top which will have holes for the strings to pass through then a small piece of wood for the string to be tied to.

One thing I'm worried about is the vibrating string going into the wooden hole and buzzing and being dampened. Ive been thinking of using brass eyelets for the entrance but I still think having the string vibrating inside the hole needs to be stopped.

Does anyone know how I can stop this happening. Should I perhaps make sure the drilled holes arnt vertical but at an angle? I wasn't planning on gluing the dowel in place but would have to do that now.

Thank you.

[Andy Birko]

Can you draw a picture or something? Can't envision what you're describing.

[David Harrison]

Heres a bit of a crude drawing i've just done.




The drawing on the right is the large dowel rod which goes along the top. How i've designed this each string will go through a hole in the rod, then the string is tied onto a kind of peg/small stick at the top side.

The problem i'm worried about it when the string is vibrated it might rattle against the sides of the hole, which would surely spoil the sound and vibration time. I'd like to find a way to make sure it only vibrated outside the hole, I think the only way to really do that is to make the holes slanted, so where the string leaves its pulled up against one edge of the exit.

The thing about that would be force will be exerted onto the rod to try and make it twist. The rod will go into the sides of the instrument, so can be glued quite well. I guess this will be strong enough but am not entirely sure.

[Jon Whitney]

I think you're right about slanting the holes. You could put some smaller cross dowels through the frame and the large dowels to keep it from twisting.

[David Harrison]

Yes I think that would be an option. I think it would look a bit ugly however so if I could do it another way I will, maybe making a tenon joint? Not as easy but I guess would look cleaner, wood glue is pretty strong too but with my lack of experience that would be a risk.

[Clay Schaeffer]

If you made the exit holes come out at the bottom, and angled every other hole in the opposite direction, the twisting force might cancel out and you wouldn't have to glue the rod in. It probably wouldn't take much of an angle to "stop" the end of the string.

[David Harrison]

Interesting idea. I wonder if that would make any noticeable difference for finger positions when plucking, it would probably be minimal. Perhaps I'll just have to test it out.

[Jon Whitney]

Yes I think that would be an option. I think it would look a bit ugly however so if I could do it another way I will, maybe making a tenon joint? Not as easy but I guess would look cleaner, wood glue is pretty strong too but with my lack of experience that would be a risk.

Lutherie Rule #1: If the solution to a problem impacts the appearance of the instrument, make it look like a decoration. Or as we say in the software industry, "it's not a bug - it's a feature!"

[David Harrison]

Good idea. Seems quite hard to pull off.

Perhaps I could add a perl inlay to cover them up, might look random but I think would look better than otherwise.

[Clay Schaeffer]

Hi David,
My thinking was where the exit holes come out of the bottom of the dowel, the holes would be in a straight line. They would angle both ways from that point. The strings would all remain in the same plane so it shouldn't affect the finger positions at all.