Lyre Harp 16 Strings: Solid Mahogany Wooden Body Metal Strings Musical Instrument - Accessory with Tuning Wrench and Durable Gig Bag

I really love this lyre. It's easy to tune. I use the G strings app to help me tune it. At first the lyre gets out of tune really fast and you have to tune it a lot, but after it gets "broken in" it stays tuned a lot longer. The lyre is beautiful and seems to be good quality, especially for the price. It's very fun to just sit down and pluck out a tune. If you have some musical background it will be very easy to pick it up. If you have no musical background it's still an easy instrument to learn and anyone can have fun playing around with it. It's makes a great first instrument or instrument to teach yourself. One thing to note about lyres is that they are a limited instrument. You cannot play flats or sharps with it (unless you tune the strings you need to be flat or sharp, but you can't play accidentals with it), so you're limited to C major or A minor. I do find that the 16 strings is plenty and I haven't really run into the need for more strings for any song I've tried to play. It comes with a tuning wrench, picks, extra strings, a little book with some simple songs to play, and a really nice zippered carrying case with a strap. It also comes in a very nice sturdy box that can be used to store it. I bought a ukulele stand to display it on top of my piano and not only does it look beautiful there, it makes a great conversation piece.

The media could not be loaded. I like it, a steal for $50 on prime day. Since it is both cheap, functional and pretty, I'm not going to nitpick some of the little imperfections.Something I do want to point out is the new(?) bridge. The bridge helps with the sound of hollow lyres, and also prevents the ringlets near the bottom from breaking (a supposedly common occurrence in bridge-less lyres from China). Rather than being a single solid material, the bridge has a piece of metal embedded into the top where the strings touch it. This is my first lyre, so I cannot comment on how this fares compared to other ones, but one thing I can say for certain is that this lyre is definitely not mute (especially if you use a pick rather than your fingers). The higher notes are a bit more quiet, but still loud enough to hear from a room away if you pluck hard enough. The strings are metal rather than nylon, which also enhances the sound. Challenging to play at first but definitely manageable the more you do it. I know some people like to color the strings, but I did not find the layout to be confusing or hectic enough to warrant doing so, half of the strings are a different color anyways.When researching ways to tune the lyre, I frequently heard advice to "only tune the lyre from high to low". In practice, this is not very realistic since the slightest touch to the pegs will shift it just below tune, even if you intentionally overturned it at first. You will be constantly teetering back and forth between slightly below tune and slightly above tune when adjusting the pegs. What I did at first was tune each string up to 2 Hz above the exact note. As you play the lyre for the first few days, it will naturally fall below tune as you play, but will eventually settle into place the more you tune it. I'm still learning myself, but this was a helpful method for me.The manual the lyre comes with recommends Android users to tune the lyre with the app g Strings. I tried a few other apps just to see if they were better, and they weren't very accurate lol. G Strings gives you the exact Hz of sound it hears, personally I used the standard guitar setting. Basic rundown of the app is that the small number in the center of the screen is the exact Hz of the note displayed up top, and the left side is below tune and the right side is above tune. Another tip I have is to only slightly turn the peg when tightening the string in order to prevent breakage, and checking with the app each time you do it.My video was recorded the day after I first opened it. The song is Yoshi Island's theme, Samantha on Mars has a tutorial video on YouTube for it. I recommend learning songs from her and from sheet music, the optional numbering notation that's included with the lyre is mainly used by Chinese musicians and isn't as applicable for western players.fun fact: apparently the brand name is Byla, not Cega. They just really like putting the name Cega on their instruments for some reason. Maybe they're passionate about noise particle segmentation algorithms. The world may never know.

Really cool instrument. Item was a gift for my son. He loves it and it challenges him . Great for music lovers and people that are interested in different types and styles of music as well as history.

This is a wonderful 16 string lyre, tuned to the key of C, which gives you A minor as well. I allowed it to acclimate to our house temperature before tuning it. It was easier for me to use the piano, though I also have a tuner. Micro tuning is the name of the game, tiny gestures, and patience. The tone of this instrument is wonderful. I need lots of practice, but am enjoying the learning process. It was a great price. The color is a beautiful teal, and the designs on it are lovely. One complaint is that my tuner lacked a wooden handle.

I really like having this instrument. It sounds cool and is unique. That being said I have many years of experience with stringed instruments and for whatever reason this one has trouble holding its tune for very long. I feel like I spend more time tuning it than actually playing the thing. It would be a nice gift for a child but I would recommend someone who is serious about playing to pay a little bit more to get a better one.

If I could give this harp 10 stars I would. The craftsman and sound for the price is by far the best I have seen. This is a Winner!

I just love this 16 string Lyre. This was easy to tune and I am enjoying my time learning how to play it.

Honestly this product was just ok and it didn’t take long to break a string. Luckily it came with a replacement string.