What was the first lyre made of?

A lyre sound box is usually made out of a soft wood that vibrates nicely. Spruce and mahogany are good choices. You can also make a lyre sound box out of a laminated wood like eighth inch birch plywood or even three ply Luann sub-flooring material if you just want to make a cheap prototype model. Both of these inexpensive options have very good vibrational properties. I have built a lyre sound box with Luann and I was very pleased with the resulting sound.