HOW TO MAKE A TALHARPA!

The talharpa, also known as a tagelharpa (tail-hair harp) or the stråkharpa (bowed harp), is a multi-stringed bowed lyre from northern Europe. It was formerly widespread in Scandinavia, but today it’s quickly making a resurgence as the polarity in Nordic music groups such as Wardruna and Hielung grows. Talharpa were traditionally built by hollowing out a single block of wood, and gluing a soundboard on top, as demonstrated by various historical finds. In modern times, many tagelharpa makers continue to build their musical instruments from solid wood. The Talharpa that I have built is a hybrid of modern and traditional styles. This was my first attempt at building a wooden instrument and I was very happy with how it turned out. Hopefully I will find time to be able to make another Talharpa in the Future! Thank you for watching, please like and subscribe! See below for more info Timestamps/Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:21 Talharpa Body 9:25 Horse hair Bow 11:05 Sound Bridge and Pegs 11:56 Tailpiece and Strings 13:44 Wood burning and Staining 15:50 Assembly 16:52 Playing the Talharpa 18:42 Notes, Materials, and Tools Materials: 10ft by wood board 4x4ft pine plywood (use spruce if possible) 2in and 1in x 4 ft dowel rod (pine or hardwood) Wood stain and sealer Horse hair, fishing line, or cello strings Bow and string resin (i used dark) At least 3 microtuners At least 2ft of paracord Wood glue and hot glue Tools: 6-14 pressure clamps Dremel or rotary tool Sander and sandpaper Wood chisels and hammer Jigsaw, hand saws or circular saw Floppy sanding bits (80grit) Drill or drill press with drill bits Diamond burrs or engraving burrs Wood burner or laser engraver Brushes and razor blades Notes: I forgot to film a few steps including: placing the bass bar and sound post, sealing with polyurethane and adding hot glue to the string peg holes. When you make a talharpa in this style, it surprisingly works as a “3 in 1” instrument. It can be played as a bowed harp, plucked like a traditional harp, and can even be played as a snare drum sisung the Vegvisir area of the soundboard! Horse hair is difficult to work with and breaks very easily so make sure you buy more than you need. Resin is also required for the instrument to produce sounds. Songs used in The Video: Inspirations and resources: Wardruna Hielung Skald