Making a Lur

In November 2024 I purchased a Swedish lur (in B-flat) built in 1980. Here is a separate web page about that lur: https://alphorns.com/lur.html

As I began making alphorn tuning tubes for the Seattle Opera's performance of Richard Strauss's opera Daphne, I developed skills that applied to making a lur.

Initially I had difficulty finding spruce wood, the ideal wood for making lurs and alphorns. I decided to begin with sections of Douglas Fir from a local lumber store. I used the basic design of the Swedish B-flat lur to begin working on a lur in F, longer than the lur in B-flat, half the length of my alphorn in F. The lur in F should play an octave higher than my alphorn in F, but still access the same harmonic series.

Lur in F: From Douglas Fir

Below: First stages of laying out and trimming the three blocks. Each block needed to be in two long halves for gouging the bore.

I began working on the bell part:

I made a middle part and a narrower part leading to the mouthpiece, then assembled and glued all three parts together. I made a few mistakes on the exterior tube work, and, since I had no source of birch bark to cover the lur in the traditional way, I bought some inexpensive grain-patterned duct tape :)

Here it hangs on the wall under my Swedish B-flat lur:

Sound Samples linked below.

Lur in F: From Spruce

I found spruce boards at a different local lumber store. I decided to try making a 2-piece lur. I used a similar conical formula as the lur in Douglas Fir, but I made the bell on this one a bit wider. I am happy with the way it turned out. I have found a local source for birch bark, but this wood with its array of knots looked too nice to cover. So I finished it with 4 thin layers of Birchwood-Casey Tru-Oil Gun Stock finish, buffing lightly between coasts with Scotch-Brite pads, then used Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax Polish for the last step.

I have begun making a third lur from spruce. That one I will wrap in birch bark.

Made a stand for the 2 pieces:

Sound Samples

(coming)