Traditional Finnish instrument with new life
I did it. I took the leap and bought a Finnish kantele kit from Musicmakers.
I know that doesn't sound like a big leap. But considering the price tag ($169 US) plus the shipping to Canada ($58.50), by the end the total after conversion was $313.50 CAD. Again, not a massive outlay, but look at the difference between the sticker price and the final cost, and hopefully you can see why purchasing something online, made out of wood, can be a bit nerve-wracking at this price point. It was an unknown commodity to me at the time, although I will admit I've been wanting to buy SOMETHING from Musicmakers for a long time.
To cut to the chase, this is an instrument I play pretty much every day, so it's 100% worth the price of admission.
This was also quite early in my Woods & Strings journey, so I unfortunately didn't have the foresight to run up a whole build video. You pretty much get the unboxing, and a couple of test tracks. But more on that in a minute...
About Musicmakers
Musicmakers is a Minnesota-based company that's been around since 1978, originally making woodworking kits. In 1993 they switched over to musical instrument kits via mail order, and eventually to their online operation.
The team at Musicmakers is passionate about two things: woodworking and folk instruments. The instruments they make are all superior designed performance instruments and true works of woodworking craftsmanship. Instruments can be purchased finished or as kits to be built at home. The majority of their instruments are traditional instruments like harps and a variety of zithers, and the quality is truly outstanding.
What's more, the customer service is AMAZING. As a small company, they're readily available by phone or email for questions and help. I had some concerns over the length of time the delivery was scheduled to take, as they were back-ordered on the kantele kits. They pushed one through the line for me to make sure I wouldn't have to wait too long. The cut work was slightly less polished than their typical kits, but a little extra shaping on my end doesn't put me out at all.
I love kits. I always say that kits combine my three passions: music, woodworking, and not getting divorced over purchasing a $3,000 Les Paul Custom. I recently built a very high-end strat from a kit (not from Musicmakers) that I'll get to reviewing shortly, as well as a Jem-style electric from the same supplier, and I'm absolutely addicted.
It'll take some time to get some cash saved up for the next Musicmakers kit I want to buy (this Lynda Lyre has struck my fancy), but I'm DEFINITELY going back there.
About the Kantele
The kantele is a very old folk instrument from the Baltic region in Northern Europe. It's specific to Finland, where it's most common iteration is a five-stringed instrument used for both strumming and melody playing. Its closest relative is the kokle from Estonia.
Both instruments are members of the zither family, which includes psalteries, some harps, lyres, and pianos. It's basically just a string attached to a bar, then wrapped around a pin. There's no fingerboard to change pitch on the string, so each string has only one note (this is why pianos have keys, and violins don't). It's a simple structure, but can produce an amazing variety of tones and colours.
The kantele was traditionally carved from a single piece of wood, with a second piece attached on top to provide the block to which the strings are attached. In older times, it was owned by the head of the household, who would use it to recount stories and legends and sing the old songs. It forms a central theme of Finnish tales, and features prominently in the Kalevala epic as a magical instrument.
The kantele has experienced a resurgence through the 20th and early 21st centuries, and has even evolved more complex concert versions with 10, 15, and even more than 20 strings. Some proponents of the folk side of the instrument, like Toronto-based artist Matti Palonen, are on a mission to make it the go-to strumming instrument for folk song.
Strumming the kantele is similar to strumming a lyre. Whereas with a guitar or ukelele you have to fret the notes you want to make a chord, on these instruments you mute the notes you don't want. It's a little bit of a shift in thinking but it's quite easy to pick up the patterns. The biggest challenge I've found in learning it is that the instrument isn't fully chromatic: a five-string kantele is tuned D-E-F#-G-A, so you have to be flexible in how you hear chords. For example:
- a D chord is D-F#-A
- an A chord is E-A
- an A7 chord is E-G-A
- a G chord is G-D
- a B minor chord is D-F#
Challenging, but not impossible.
The Musicmakers Kantele
The Musicmakers kantele is a more modern design, with sharper angles and a longer scale than the traditional carved kantele. It's built from a shaped mahogany soundboard on a walnut frame. The frame comes in three pieces, plus a snail cutout for the "headstock" (traditional models don't really have a headstock; this is included to make room for one of their signature rosettes, which you select on ordering).
To assemble, you need wood glue, some clamps (I used spring clamps), a hammer, a screwdriver, a drill, and some sandpaper. I like sanding from 100 up to 400 grit for oil finishes. 220 is probably sufficient for anyone less persnickety.
Assembly is easy. You're literally gluing three pieces to the back of the soundboard (it's impossible to get this wrong), clamping, then putting in some screws. Once the glue sets up, you just do a little shaping with some sandpaper, drill the holes for the pins, and finish the way you like. I used Tried & True Danish Oil -- about four coats -- to keep it as natural as possible. The results were amazing and I'm REALLY happy with it.
The kit includes strings and some basic instructions. As I'm about to do a re-string (after a year of playing), once I get my new strings in from Matti I'll maybe do a quick tutorial video on that process, as zither stringing is a bit different from guitar stringing.
This is a 10-string model. There's no hard and fast rule for tuning folk instruments of course, but think of the guitar: you begin with the standard six strings (E-A-D-G-B-E), and if you want extended ranges you push out from there (usually a low B, but Michael Angelo Batio used to use a .005-gauge high A string which was cool). Here, the standard is D-E-F#-G-A (a major pentachord), which can be made minor by lowering the third string to an F. To extend out, the most natural direction is down to a low A, and then up to a high D. This produce a Mixolydian scale (a major scale with a flattened 7th), which is common in many folk traditions. It is also a major scale that skips the upper leading tone (7).
WARNING: THEORY NERD STUFF AHEAD
A - B - C# - D - E - F# - G - A - B - D
The root is the D (remember the traditional tuning in D), so for the theorists in the mix the scale is:
5 - 6 - 7 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 1
(the 6 to 1 leap is common for major pentatonics).
For the folksy types, the scale is Mixolydian:
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - b7 - 1 - 2 - 4
For the medievalists, there's an Aeolian built in:
b7 - 1 - 2 - b3 - 4 - 5 - b6 - b7 - 1 - b3
(which gives us the 1 - b3 combination that suggests a minor pentatonic as well).
As you can see, this is a versatile string arrangement. If there's one minor frustration, it's the lack of an upper C#; but if you're clever, you can use harmonics to double the octave by lightly touching the mid-point of any string (just as you would on a guitar). This changes the tone a bit, but it's a cool trick.
END THEORY NERD STUFF
Final Word
As I said, I LOVE this instrument. I love the way it sounds. I'm obsessed with the feel of it, and the tone. It's quiet enough to play softly in the background (as there's no resonating chamber -- the back is open), but it can get much louder with a little aggressive plucking or strumming. It has a beautifully ancient sound to it, which makes it amazing for plucking out chants or old Christmas songs the way you would on a plucked psaltery or lyre.
If you're looking for an easy, beautiful instrument kit, this is a great entry into the world of kit building. If you want a wonderfully simple but surprisingly flexible folk instrument to play, this checks all the boxes as well.
Link (not sponsored): Get the Musicmakers Finnish Kantele Kit: https://www.harpkit.com/kantele-kit
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