Introduction-
A miniature Lyre was constructed for a contest and it had to be carried to various schools. It was then obvious it needed protection
The lyre is similar to an earlier lyre type that was demonstrated in Instructable of Aug 5, 2009.
After assembly it was discovered that it was easy to play as a zither type instrument while mounted inside the carrier.
The construction is straight forward and if one uses a purchased box they can make this in 40 hours.

Step 1: Construction [general]

The construction of the box is minimal if one buys it at Jo-Ann"s or Micheals"s stores for about $4.00. The inside dimensions has to meet the size of the lyre component which is 3 x 7-1/2 x 2.8 in high. a larger inside of about 9 in. wide would be fine for adding a microphone.The lrye resonator box can also be purchased . The size used here is 3x 7wide x 2-1/2 high but can be longer to 5 in. and still be a lyre which is played from the front and rear. If mounted and played in the carrier it can only be played from the top side however.
Make the lyre first of all and follow the key instructions outlined in the above Instructable for the zither as far as making the tuner screws, the 13 notes from B to G above high C., and he layout here.
Tools- Pliers. ,Hemostat pliers,awl. drill bits .093 and .105 dia. Dremel tool {R} or a drill press could be used, hand saw ,
See first picture of the over-all construction.

Step 2: Construction Details

Materials
Refer to Item 1 to 18 of layout . The type , size and vendors are listed here. Most items were purchased in any hardware store or craft store.
String - You can use stretch string [cord] of 1mm. size 15 ft. spools [$3.00 approx] solid, clear.stretchable to 300% .Nylon wont
work. Another type string is known as multi-strand .8mm. It also stretchable 300% but is extremely stable and is what was used here to reduce pitch drift to under 1/2 note in 1 month use.Ref. Multicrafts imports.com.
Tuning screws.13ea. nickel plated steel Hook/cup 5/8 is best. Brass is poor. Drill to use .093 in. into dowel rod.
Anchor crimps - used to anchor the string under the top resonator board.. Used here were the U-shaped jewelry crimps.
Tuner Mount dowel- 1/2 in. Diam {Item 10} Must be a good solid dowel of hard wood.
Side supports- pine or what ever is available.Item 8. can be 1/4 in. thick and cut as shown but need not be since the purpose is to mount the tuning dowel Item 10 to a certain height above the resonator top. In this case3/8 in. for string clearance from the top.

Step 3: Final Assembly

Layout
Refer to the picture. Resonator and string layout. All dimensions are indicated to utilize 13 strings or notes.
The drilled holes for tuning screws are 1/2 in. spaces drill with .093 drill all way through.
Bridge-1/8 wood rod [item 13]. 5 in. long placed with Goop glue as shown placed 1/2 in. x1-3/4 in from the left lower edge of the resonator top for note G under Middle C. All spacings are drilled with .065 to .076 drills spaced 5/16 apart. These holes are next to the bridge rod about 1/8 in. Drill 13 holes. Top is very thin about 1/8 thick wood and is easy to drill.
   Side mounts- glue to sides of wood resonator box. Drill tuning mount holes 5-5/8 out from the back of the box and 2-5/8 up as shown for the wood screws mounting for the tuner screw rod item 10.Assembly.
    Screw the 13 tuner screws into the rod item 10. Assemble the rod to the two side mounts with the wood screws Item 9.
    Tie a string of about initial 6 in+{ 3 in extra long } to the screw that is closed with a plier [closed loop].Fish other end to the first hole [G note}| and pull through the pre-drilled .078 hole with a hemostat   while strumming the string . Pull about 6 inches of stretch untill you get to the Bnote. Crimp the string under the top resonastor.Cut off excess. Turn the screw tuner clockwise untill the G note is close. Nwext go to the C note and so on to the High G note which string is only 4.in. final length. Start it with about 6 in. of non-stretched string though.

Step 4: Completion

Final assembly-After the stringing is performed. set the lyre aside for 24 hours.This will stabilize the tension on the strings . Note that the pitch is drifted low about one note. Re-tune the note to the pitch using as your basis any piano or harmonica. The note will continue to drift lower for another 1/4 note but re-tune it again after waiting another 4 hours.Eventually the note stabilizes after a week of playing.
In any case you may place the lyre in the carrier box and mount it with easy to remove wood screws item 5.
To rest your fingers even more- glue a 1/8x1/8 x 7 in rod above the tuning screw assembly as shown.
Be sure there is enough clearance for the tuner screws from the carrier top to tune the note with a small nail inserted into the tuning screw.

Step 5: Amplifiers

Note amplification-
some may want to amplify the notes. As shown here there are at least two methods.
1- ear phone amplifiers- An ordinary ear phone is a very good microphone of 4 ohms to 32 ohms .This is fed into a Radio Shack pre-amp. then to a stereo amplifier. Shown is a small $7.00 amplifier using 2 AA cells. The RS uses a 9vdc bat.[est amp $15.00]

2- Wireless mike- Here we used a low cost $6.00 Hana Montana type of mike withe mike part removed and attched to about 3 feet of cord.The mike is then placed in the carrier . The wireless signal is good for 15 feet away from your stereo FM set[ set at 107Mc.]

Have fun. Take the little box with you to the beach, school etc...
listen to the music MOV here-------
Sharps notes can be added later as shown here.