Kantele Types

Our Kantele are available in several styles. All instruments come with bag, playing guide, tuning key and spare string, as shown below.

1) Softwood Carved Kantele, with traditional one piece spruce body, open back, seperate hardwood ponsi (string holder) and seperate spruce soundboard. Steel strings and steel zither pins. Available with five strings (£120), six strings (£125) or seven strings (£130). These instruments have a bright, loud, clear ringing voice. The seven string Kantele in the picture above is of this type. The picture below shows the open back of this style of instrument. Playing on a tabletop or plank of wood makes this style of Kantele sound even louder and more resonant. A back and soundhole can be added for an additional £10. Click HERE to listen to an Ancient Instruments Kantele of this type (six strings), in this track Stromming Boats, from Kate Fletcher's CD Fruit.

2) Hardwood Kantele, hardwood body (usually oak, beech, ash or maple) built from seperate pieces, spruce soundboard, hardwood ponsi. Steel strings and steel zither pins. Available with five strings (£120), six strings (£125) or seven strings (£130), including bag, playing guide, spare string, tuning key. These instruments have a darker less treble tone than the softwood models. The back can be left open, or a back board and a sound-hole on the top can be added for an additional £20, making the instruments easier to amplify as the sound is more directional and a microphone can pointed at or mounted in the soundhole. Hardwood construction makes these Kantele robust and should ensure a long life.

3) Horsehair Kantele. The mythical Kantele of the Kalevala and Kalipoeg are strung with horsehair, and it seems likely that this is the original stringing material for this family of instruments. Certainly even in recent times Kantele made in the Finnish countryside were strung with horsehair. It gives a quiet, percussive sound completely different to the sound of the steel strung Kantele. If dependable tuning is required for stage performance etc then the horsehair can be replaced with similar sounding multi-stranded strings of nylon fishing line at no extra charge. Available with carved softwood body as above, notched hardwood pegs and hardwood ponsi, five strings (£150), or piece built hardwood body for the same price including bag, playing guide, string, tuning key. It can have a bottom added for £10 (softwood body) or £20 (hardwood body) respectively.

Click HERE to listen to an Ancient Instruments Kantele of this type, in this track Cruel Sister, from Kate Fletcher's CD Fruit. The horsehair Kantele is joined by a steel strung Kantele towards the end of the sample.

The instrument below was made with a bottom and a soundhole to make it easier to amplify with a microphone.

4) Budget Kantele. Made simply without all the fiddly bits, these instruments have a powerful sound. Spruce or pine body, bottom board and sound hole. Hardwood ponsi, £85, includes instruction leaflet, tuning key and spare string but no bag. The instrument below had a bind rune pyrographed onto the soundboard.

Read about the history of the Kantele here.

Guslis

We currently make two types of Gusli:

1) Gdansk Gusli

This diminutive instrument was found in what is now the centre of a residential area in Gdansk. Because of coins and ceramic pieces found with it it could be accurately dated to between 1255 and 1275. It is a little over 40cm long, and has 5 strings stopped through an oval handhole. No string material was found with the original instrument so our reconstruction is strung with gut as this was a common string material in use at the time. Tuned to the first five notes of a major or minor scale the instrument is strummed, three fingers of the left hand stop the central three strings, the outer two sounding as drones. The melody is played by unstopping one of the central three strings at a time, or by playing one of the two outer strings loudly. This gives a tone somewhat like a ukulele. Although not a loud instrument because of the size of the body it is eminently portable and loud enough for song accompaniment or to play a simple dance tune in quiet surroundings. Carved out one piece hardwood body, carved hardwood pegs and string holders, rebated softwood soundboard. Bag, spare string and instruction booklet, £140 This instrument can be strung with nylgut, an artificial substitute for gut whch is more hardwearing and keeps its tuning better at no extra charge. It can be given a hardwood soundboard for an additional £20. Click HERE to listen to this instrument.

Coming soon- Slovisha Gusli

Choice of Finish and other Options. All of the above instruments are available in either a light oil finish, or in a brown woodstained finish chosen to look like the pine-tar finish used traditionally on all these instruments, or in an antique finish. Zither pins can be replaced with metal harp pegs at a cost of £5 per string.

Click here to find how to order.

Read about the history of the Gusli here.

In Stock Now:

Green Kantele

Hear this instrument HERE

This instrument has an Ash head and Oak tail, Spruce sides and soundboard, Maple back. Silvered steel strings, brass varras (string holding rod). Stain and wax finish are both 'Toy Safe' substances. I'm selling it for £160, which includes a felt bag, spare string, tuning key and instruction leaflet . SOLD

Wax Finish Kantele

Nearly Finished! 6 steel string kantele, oak ends, ash sides, beech ponsi, spruce soundboard. Waxed natural wood finish. With bag, tuning key, spare string, instruction booklet. £125 SOLD

Antique Finish Kantele

6 steel string kantele, oak ends, ribs and ponsi. Spruce soundboard. Antique finish. With bag, tuning key, spare string, instruction booklet. £125 Click here to find how to order. SOLD

Red Cedar Kantele

6 string steel kantele. One piece carved New Forest pine body, red cedar soundboard, oak ponsi. Waxed natural wood finish. With bag, tuning key, spare string, instruction booklet. £120 Click here to find how to order. SOLD

Home