Construction
Lyra has a body (kafka, or kafki) with a pear-shaped soundboard (kapaki), or one which is essentially oval in shape, with two small semi-circular soundholes. The body and neck are carved out of one piece of aged wood (minimum 10 years old). Traditionally the body's wood was sourced from trees growing in Crete such as walnut, mulberry and asfadamos, the local plane tree; today it is mostly imported. The soundboard is also carved with a shallower arch and is usually made of straight-grained softwood; traditionally made of the aged wooden beams of buildings (katrani) and, ideally the 300-year-old wooden beams from Venetian ruins. In the past, the strings were made of animal bowels and the bow (doxari) of horse-tail hair. In the past, the bow's arc usually had a series of spherical bells, gerakokoudouna (hawk bells), to provide rhythmic accompaniment to the melody when the bow was moving. Today, most lyras are played with violin bows.
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