Don: I agree. Must have a lyre. And some of the pages Google turned up show how to build one. But I've made a pledge not to buy or build any new instruments until I get rid of at least 6 guitars.

So I'm thinking about how I could convert one of the extra guitars for use as a lyre. After all, most Anglo-Saxon lyres have six strings. I figure I can just install 2 sets of nylon treble strings, arranged G G B B E E, and then tune them to G A B C D E, or one of the other lyre tunings.

It might be necessary to increase the spacing between the strings. One of my extra guitars has a floating bridge and tailpiece. I could make a new, wider bridge and tailpiece for that one. The strings don't need to stay over the neck since a lyre normally doesn't even have a neck.