The Celtic harp is different from Greek and Roman lyres whose sound box was made of a turtle shell.
It has a significant second transverse bar parallel to the yoke whose function remains unknown
Some archaeologists have suggested that it could be the representation of a leather thong.
The strings clearly pass over this crossbar, making it possible that this element is a kind of capo that you could remove and replace to change the chord to a fifth. Acoustic calculations and the physical reconstruction enabled the verification of this hypothesis. We chose to use alder for the body of the instrument. Anthracological studies reveal the existence of this tree on the settlement site of Paola. The yoke and the bar capo are in plum-wood. The assembly of the parts was made with bone glue. Finally, the instrument has been waxed with beeswax.
Cordes en boyau enroulées autour du joug
Bridge in plum-wood, bone tuning pegs
The gut strings are wound around the yoke, as per the statue (no wire strings were probably used in this period). We chose to fix the bone pegs at the bottom of the soundboard.
A sound-hole on the soundboard
We do not know if the Celtic lyre of the Iron Age had sound-holes. On some representations of Greek and Roman lyres, perforations can be seen on the soundboard evoking sound-holes.
This bar capo is in plum-wood. It abuts against the strings to change their tuning and can be quickly removed and replaced by the musician.