At 03:58 PM 1/3/2007 -0800, you wrote:
Ok, I'm newly bit by the hurdy gurdy bug so I'm researching and listening
and reading everything I can get my hands on...
My question is could the tangents for the white/top keys be placed on the
underside of the keys, or upside down from the bottom row of keys.. I
thought of this because I saw a gurdy that looked like It couldn't be
upgraded to be fully chromatic because their wasn't enough room for the
tangents unless they were on the under side... Am I was off base here or
has someone done this before.. Just a thought.... Seth
Hi Seth-
I did just what you're suggesting... sort of...
My first hurdy-gurdy was a little 3-string diatonic thing, and I wanted to
make it chromatic. There wasn't room to add the top row of "accidental"
key slots in the keybox, and anyway I wanted to try some non-destructive
ideas. So I made a new keybox lid with sides deep enough to include slots
and a second row of keys. The tangents hang down. When you open the lid,
the tangents end up face up, so they're easy to adjust. Only trouble is
that you have to close the lid again to play the note and see if you got it
right. Plus when you close the lid, the keys drop "in" toward the middle,
and if you're not careful, the tangents land *on* the chanterelle.
I've considered trying this idea to add a second partial keyboard that
would play on its own string in the keybox, but it would probably get in
the way of comfortably reaching the "real" keys...
~ Matt
