Cwestiynau — questions
Questions & answers.
What people ask before they write — about the instruments, the commissioning, and the long, unhurried business of making something by hand. If your question is not here, telephone or write to the workshop.
- What is a crwth?
- The crwth (say "crooth") is Wales's ancient bowed lyre — older than the violin, and by around 1800 all but lost. Six gut strings: four bowed, two sounding as drones beneath. For centuries it carried the poetry of the bards in the old art of cerdd dant, the craft of the string. Today only a handful of makers in the world still build one. Richie is among them. To own a crwth is to hold a thousand years of Wales in a single voice.
- How does commissioning an instrument work?
- It begins with a conversation — nothing decided, nothing owed. You tell Richie the instrument you long for, the music you play, the timber you love. A written quotation follows, with the specification, the timbers to be used, and a delivery window. A deposit then secures your place in the order book, and the build begins. Every instrument here is bespoke: made for one player, voiced for one pair of hands. There is no catalogue to choose from — only a maker to speak with.
- How long does a build take?
- It depends on the instrument. A crwth typically runs eight to twelve months from deposit to delivery. A Celtic harp — folk or lever — asks some four to seven months at the bench, a little longer if a larger instrument or a rare timber is wanted. Mandolins and Irish bouzoukis fall within their own quieter windows. Good wood cannot be hurried, and neither can the ear that tunes it. Your quotation will name a delivery window, and the workshop journal will follow the work if you wish to watch it unfold.
- How does pricing work?
- Because every instrument is bespoke, a price is a conversation rather than a number on a shelf. It follows from the instrument, its timbers, its complexity, and the setup it asks for. As a broad guide only: a mandolin is the most affordable place to begin; the crwth, carved from a single block over the better part of a year, is the most considerable; and a Celtic harp or an Irish bouzouki sits somewhere between. A written quotation makes it plain before any deposit is asked. Ask, and Richie will give you an honest figure for the instrument you have in mind.
- What timbers do you use?
- Welsh timber, wherever the instrument allows it. Richie works sycamore, cherry, and oak, much of it grown in his own Welsh woodland — a Celtic harp given a body of its own native grain. A crwth is carved from a single block of Welsh sycamore, its soundboard fitted in cedar or spruce. Each piece is chosen for its voice as much as its figure, seasoned slowly, and read by hand before a tool touches it. Thirty years and more at the bench — in instrument-making, in carpentry, in traditional timber framing — teaches a maker to hear what a board will become. Where you love a particular wood, say so; it can often be sought.
- What is included with the instrument?
- Everything it needs to be played the day it arrives. Each instrument is voiced at the bench and set up before it leaves — strung, regulated, and tuned. A crwth is delivered with its horsehair bow, a fitted case, and spare strings. A harp comes set up and ready, with spare strings and its own protection for travel. Every instrument carries a short handwritten note on its care. Nothing further to buy; nothing missing when you open the case.
- How are delivery and setup handled?
- In person, where the road allows it. Richie delivers the instrument himself where he can, sets it up in your own room, and tunes it with you — for a harp especially, a room changes the voice, and it is worth meeting the instrument where it will live. A short lesson in its care follows the first tuning. Where distance makes a personal delivery impossible, the instrument travels in a fitted case, carefully packed, with clear notes on stringing, tuning, and settling it into its new home.
- I am a beginner — can you help me find a teacher?
- Gladly. Wales has never been short of gwŷr wrth gerdd — those skilled in music — and Richie is happy to point you toward teachers of the harp, the crwth, and cerdd dant, whether in person or online. The crwth in particular is a rare enough instrument that its players tend to know one another, and an introduction is easily made. You need not be able to play a note before you commission. Many instruments here have been the reason their owner learned at all — the awen, the muse, finding its way in through the wood.
- How do I care for the instrument?
- Kindly, and it will outlast you. Keep it from extremes — direct heat, damp cellars, a car left in the sun; a wooden instrument breathes with the room it lives in. It is finished in oil and wax rather than lacquer, so a soft dry cloth is all it asks; never polish or solvent. Slacken nothing needlessly, and let gut strings settle in their own time. Each instrument leaves with a handwritten note on its particular care, and Richie is only ever a telephone call away if a question arises down the years.
- What is the difference between bespoke, kit, and off-the-shelf?
- An off-the-shelf instrument is made to a fixed pattern before any player is known. A kit is a set of parts for you to assemble yourself. A bespoke instrument is neither — it is designed and built for one person, one hand, one voice, and tuned to the music that person means to play. That is the only kind of work Richie undertakes. The wood is chosen for you, the proportions considered for you, and the instrument voiced for you at the bench before it is ever delivered. It costs more time, and it repays it.
- Do you build instruments other than harps and crwths?
- Yes. Alongside the crwth and the Celtic harp — telyn — in its folk and lever forms, Richie builds mandolins and Irish bouzoukis to commission. Thirty years and more of instrument-making sit beside a lifetime of carpentry and traditional timber framing, and all of it feeds the bench. Whatever the instrument, the way of working is the same: native timber where it serves, carved and joined by hand, voiced before it leaves, and made for the player who asked for it.
- Do you ship internationally?
- Yes. Instruments from this workshop have travelled well beyond Wales, and a crwth is a rare enough thing that its owners are often far away. Where a personal delivery is not possible, the instrument is packed with care in its fitted case and sent by a carrier suited to something fragile and beloved. Shipping, insurance, and any duties are set out plainly in your quotation before anything is agreed. Wherever it goes, it leaves fully set up and voiced, with everything it needs to be played on arrival.
- Can I follow the build as it happens?
- If you wish. Each commission can be followed in the workshop journal — photographs and notes at each stage, sent by email as the instrument takes shape: the block hollowed, the soundboard fitted, the first stringing, the voicing at the bench. Some owners prefer to wait and be surprised. Others like to watch the wood become their instrument over the months. Either is welcome, and the choice is yours to make when the work begins.
- How do I get in touch?
- The best way to begin is to speak. Telephone +44 7958 616819 or write to enquiry@bardictraditionalinstruments.co.uk, and Richie will answer himself — usually the same day. Tell him the instrument, the music, the timber you love, or simply the question on your mind. Nothing is decided in a first conversation, and nothing is owed.
Croeso — welcome