Donner Lyre Harp, 10 Metal Strings, Mahogany Body and Bone Saddle DLH-002 Lyre Harp for Beginner Kids with Tuning Wrench, Spare String Set, Black Gig Bag, Manual, Ancient Greece Style

I love my Donner 10 string lyre harp. It looks beautiful. The tunability of this harp was hard, but it could have just been the weather. It took longer to keep it tuned than the other lyre I have. The sound quality is wonderful. It is very comfortable to hold and play. It came with a tuning tool, picks, extra strings, and even a cloth to clean the strings after each use, (not all of them do). I really love the case it came with too. I believe it is well worth they money!

EDIT: Won't stay tuned a couple months in. I've tuned it a bit too much (trying to play songs with flats/sharps in them) and now several of the middle strings won't stay tuned. I'm having to take the pegs out and DIY fix them based on reddit advice by putting wood glue in the holes, letting it dry, then re-stringing it, essentially making the peg holes tighter. (Originally I tried putting paper in the peg holes which hasn't worked, so wood glue is the next thing I'm trying.) Re-stringing it is doable even by someone who isn't experienced, but still very difficult. If the wood glue fix doesn't work, I guess I can take it to a professional to fix all the pegs, but it kinda sucks as I was enjoying playing it at first, but not if it's out of tune. If you only kept it tuned to the base notes, I don't think you'd have this problem. But tuning it to sharps or flats, I think you may get this problem pretty quick. I didn't over-tune the strings, just one step up or down, I think it's just tuning them too frequently caused this. Original review: Arrived with no damage. I'm completely new to stringed instruments and I agree that this is a good instrument for beginners. You can play a lot of songs on it, you'll just have to tune some of the strings to sharp/flat if the song requires. The initial tuning will be the most offputting part for beginners. Keep in mind that you'll have to re-tune it every day or every other day for a week or so before it will stay in tune; the strings just need time to settle. I found it much easier to look up "16-string lyre harp tuning" on youtube and tune it by ear to a video, rather than trying to use a tuning app on my phone. I wasn't sure if I'd feel motivated to play this, so I wanted to buy this cheaper model. I have actually wanted to play it after getting it tuned because it's easy to pick up and play. And there's no definitive way you have to hold it; just play it however feels comfortable. Overall I'm glad I got this and I think it will be good as a beginner instrument if you want an inexpensive hobby. I actually find it fun and calming to play it, even when I'm just practicing a song over and over again.

Elegant, gave it to my oldest daughter. She loves it and sounds like an elven angel playing. I recommend.

Works fantastically, was a bit difficult to tune and took a few days before the sound was at the perfect note. The bag is light and gives it some protection but I would be cautious with putting your back against the wall since the cushioning is pretty thin. The tuner is a great size, the handle is nicely polished and does a great job at what it’s supposed to do. I’m now learning how to play and hold the Lyre, it’s a lot of fun and relaxing, although if you play it for a while your dominant holding arm might get a bit tired. It’s my second week having this instrument and I highly recommend it for a beginners instrument. I also used some small circle stickers to mark where the notes were since this model isn’t marked with them.

At first, I wasn't impressed. It arrived with a broken string out of the box and no instructions on how to replace it, though there were replacement strings included. However, I was able to replace it and then began the tuning process. Some reviewers have said that it is impossible to tune. That is not true. It is a challenge at first but that it to be expected with an instrument arriving through the mail or a delivery service like Amazon's. The first few days, I tuned it at least twice a day and now I tune it every couple of days or so and the adjustments are minor. It is much like tuning a harp except perhaps a bit fussier because the strings are shorter. Thus far, I am finding it easy to learn but am only playing one-handed for now. The sound seems good to my less-than-perfect-pitch ears and I can readily sound out simple songs or read music. My one little complaint is that the strings are not marked as they are with a regular harp but I saw a video that suggested marking C and F with markers. It has worked pretty well and this makes it easier to see where to place one's fingers if suddenly lost. In the end, I decided on 5 stars. It's a nice little instrument for a reasonable price. Often instruments like this are shown being played by children. It is not a toy and a younger child is not going to have a chance when it comes to tuning the instrument. With the aid of a patient adult, however, a musically inclined child might enjoy it but it is fine enough for adults.

Although this is a beautiful instrument, not to mention was it a bargain for the great case, tuner, and extra set of strings that comes with it. However while reading the instructions i found something odd with just how tight the instructions say to go. In the small instruction book you are told to tighten the strings slowly and gently tune up to the notes to a level of 4 and5. for example the instructions ask the user to tune the strings from left to right as E4,F4,G4,A4,B4, C5,D5,E5,F4 and G5. Not only are these cords far too tight on the Donner Lyre, but no matter how gentle or slow you go with tuning, it snaps the strings it comes with. At first i thought it was my own fault this was occurring. so i was so thankful for the product coming with an extra set of strings. however once again, no matter how lightly or slowly I went to tune the strings as asked in the instructions, the wires would snap. I have brought this lyre to multiple music stores, however even professionals are telling me that the instructions I am meant to follow are far too tight to not snap any string. And although this is a beautiful piece of work, I am extremely disappointed in the instructions. We as a buyer and player are suppose to be able to trust and follow tuning instructions as advised by the company it is mad to get the best out of our instruments, not to destroy them.

Very nice. Well made and not difficult to tune. Enjoyable to play.

I wanted to come on here and address some of the negative feedback that I’ve seen about this product. I was admittedly nervous to buy it seeing all of the bad reviews regarding tuning, cracks in the product, and missing tools. When this product arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see it made it in one piece (not much protection around the product besides a thin bag) and all tools were present. As for the tuning, yes the strings kept loosening but that is VERY typical and normal regardless of what lure you buy unless the strings have been properly stretched out (I recommend putting the string a tone or two times higher than what it is in order to loosen the string and therefore make it stay) overall amazing sound quality for the price range, beautiful reverb, splendid to play, and relatively comfortable to hold between your knees. It’s very lightweight so carrying it should be easy for most including potentially younger audiences. I would buy again.