I've actually wanted to play the jouhikko for a decade or so, but only recently actually got started learning. I found a player on YouTube who is skilled, musical, and has a long history of playing the instrument and I contacted him to ask about lessons. And he agreed to take me on as a student! I've had 6 lessons so far and it is well worth getting the formal teaching. We have to communicate over Skype and since he lives in Norway, our time zones are 10 hours different. Which means I have a lesson at 10:30 pm and he's teaching me at 8:30 am the next day.
Jouhikko is pronounced approximately as "YO-hee-ko." The emphasis is strongly on the first syllable, not on the second, as most English speakers would be more comfortable with.
This instrument is a bowed lyre. It has a gently arched bridge, so two strings are played at a time. The center string is normally played as a drone. Notes are played with the back of the fingers gently touching the horsehair strings. The bow is tensioned with the fingers of the bowing hand.
I made the body out of yellow birch, the soundboard out of cedar. Overall length is about 25", the vibrating string length is 13.5" and the width is 5.5" because that is how wide the cedar was. The bow is just some poplar I had in the shop. The strings are twisted horsehair. Next iteration will have sound holes a different shape from just round drilled holes, but I was playing with a lot of stuff on this one. The size, the hand hole, the bridge design, the bow, and the tailpiece are all new efforts for me. In the future, I will keep the size the same, but perhaps make the body a little nicer looking. And I want to try a sound post under the bridge. If I manage to get some wider soundboard material, I will try for a 6.5" wide instrument to get a bit more resonance out of the soundboard.
I make no claims about being any good with it, but I love playing it and I hope to eventually be able to consider the sounds I make musical. I'll add a couple of videos of my (very beginner) playing once they are uploaded. My connection is slow, so this can take a while.
