Nyckelharpa - Variants

Variants

There are four common variants of the nyckelharpa still played today, differing in the number and arrangement of keys, number and arrangement of strings, and general body shape. The predominant type is the so-called "chromatic nyckelharpa", with the melody strings tuned A1 - C1 - G, a drone C (from the highest to the lowest string) that is only touched occasionally, and 12 resonance strings (one for each step of the chromatic scale).

The resonance strings, or sympathetic strings, which were added to the instrument during the 2nd half of the 16th century, are not bowed directly but resonate with the other strings.

Traditional variants of the nyckelharpa used to have one or more drone strings. This is still true for modern chromatic nyckelharpor with three rows of keys for three melody strings. But there are now also types with four or even five rows of keys. These no longer have real drone strings.