Electric/Silent Cretan Lyre

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George Karathanasopoulos
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2016 2:30 pm

Electric/Silent Cretan Lyre

Post by George Karathanasopoulos »

Greetings forum
I play the lyre (Greek traditional instrument), and I've had the idea to make an electric/silent Lyra so I can practice in public places (airports, buses, etc) without making too much noise. I have a general idea on how I want it to look, and know a thing or two about shaping wood, but know nothing about the electrical stuff. This is where I need your help forum.
I don't want to spend too much money on the electrical components, but what I want ( I hope) is pretty simple. Plug headphones into a jack, and start playing.
Upon "research" I found this:
http://www.lrbaggs.com/sites/default/fi ... slide3.jpg
Now I don't know if it's good, or if will work for what I want to do but I had this in mind.
It has a tuner, I can adjust volume, and has an equalizer for bass, mid, treble.
Thank you for your time, and please don't be too hard on me, this is a personal project, and I don't know too much on the electrical side of the topic.
Christ Kacoyannakis
Posts: 252
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2012 8:58 pm

Re: Electric/Silent Cretan Lyre

Post by Christ Kacoyannakis »

George, not too knowledgeable about the electric stuff myself, but a few years ago, I made a silent practice bouzouki (http://kacoyannakis.com/gallery.htm). The main feature I wanted was a silent instrument where I could plug in an iPod and hear the music and play along. At that time EMG made an OEM board that did just that, which is what I used. It works great. I just checked their website, and can't find it. You might try calling them, as their techs were very helpful in wiring diagrams, etc. There are a lot of external boxes that do exactly this (mix audio with the signal from the pickup) if you are willing to live with an external box about the size of a sound pedal. I wanted the smallest package possible for travel, so I went with the EMG. Other manufacturers probably make something similar. Heck for all I know, an iPod might do this with nothing needed but a pickup, as they can do some pretty nice recording. Anyway, best of luck, and let me know if you need any help with anything else or have other questions.
George Karathanasopoulos
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2016 2:30 pm

Re: Electric/Silent Cretan Lyre

Post by George Karathanasopoulos »

I like the idea that you have (plugging in the MP3 and playing along). I would prefer if I didn't have to setup external pickups, and would do so only as a last resort.
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