According Papadakis, many lyra players started as violin players. Stelios Lainakis, Roberto Leydi and Tullia Magrini collaborated on fieldwork in Crete in 1977 and 1979. Stelios Lainakis took part in fieldwork with Tullia Magrini again in 1994. Papadakis kindly put his list at our team's disposal in 1977. In this period Smyrna's population, including its outer settlements, reached 300,000, the majority being Greek.
Modern instruments have even four strings.