Mechanism (concert) kanteles and kanteles today

The third big change, and a revolutionary one at that, came in the 1920s, when Paul Salminen (1887-1949) developed a kantele with a lever mechanism like that of the concert harp. This meant the player could change keys and produce chromatic notes in addition to those in the diatonic scale. This innovation coincided with a tendency to make the third side of the triangle curved rather straight. Finally the strings were placed at regular parallel rather than in the form of a fan. Leander (my grandfather) made kanteles in co-operation with Salminen. Most concert kanteles today have 36-38 strings. Kantele-making is still developing. Altough the kantele is an instrument which already takes many forms, new models are continually being made. Hollowed kanteles are mostly made machine. Many makers make both box and mechanism kanteles by machine. In the modern hollowed kantele metal pegs are used, as in box kanteles. There are new designs also in the mechanism kanteles. In my family we have made instruments traditionally by hand. Making the instruments in this way, the sound of the kantele, and the tradition of kantele-making is honovred we achieve the best results, and each instrument is unique.