Silverbasharpa

Silverbasharpa The oldest original nyckelharpa in the collection - from 1876! 

This type is called Silverbasharpa.

According to a 1973 report by nyckelharpa maker Hermann Karlsson, this silverbasharpa was built by Eric Gustaf Hillberg (1831-1894) from Hillebola Bruk in Uppland, Sweden around 1876. This harpa has been gently restored by the famous nyckelharpa builder and player Hasse Gille; he merely changed the strings and a key. 

The original strings are present, as is the bow in its original condition. This is one of the oldest playable nyckelharpas in the world.

Kontrabasharpa

The contrabasharpa is one of the oldest nyckelharpa types. 

By the way, contrabass means that two strings that are opposite each other (kontra) are played by one key and the sound depends merely on the bow stroke. It is also remarkable that the body of the contrabass consists of a complete piece of wood. An impressive craftsmanship!

Moraharpa

As early as Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) the Moraharpa was mentioned as a "key fiddle". 

It is named after a preserved original Moraharpa from Mora in Dalarna, Sweden; even if it is disputed whether the year 1526 etched within refers to the year of manufacture or if wood from the year 1526 was used. Like the contrabasharpa, it has a melody string and drone strings, originally it has a diatonic scale.

Bohlin - Harpa

"The Holy Grail"... A nyckelharpa by the inventor of the modern chromatic nyckelharpa, Auguste Bohlin. This harpa was built in 1946 and played by the musician Karl Inge Edelfeldt, who also equipped it with a pickup in the 50s - making this nyckelharpa the first in the world to be picked up electrically. 

The nyckelharpa is absolutely complete; i.e. with original case, bow, pickup and all accessories. This Bohlin harpa is also the one mentioned by Jan Ling in his standard work "Nyckelharpan", 1967 & Berlings, Lund, 1979, (ISBN 91-518-1272),

Schwedische Nyckelharpa

The Swedish nyckelharpa, now commonly referred to as nyckelharpa, has three melody strings and a drone string; reminiscent of their predecessors Silverbasharpa and Kontrabasharpa. For this purpose, it is usually equipped with twelve sympathetic strings that amplify the sound. It is the most common form of the nyckelharpa. The traditional tuning is CGca, nowadays CGda or DGda is more common.