Hello all: Due to the overwhelming response to the first installment of my instrumental saga, I now give you:
Part 2: Flat Baroque Following my initial construction of the Musicmakers' kit, I almost immediately started thinking of working on something more ambitious; so when the same company offered plans for a 'six string, two octave' HG, I decided to give it a try. This, as I fondly imagined, would be my masterpiece....... The plans were a bit disappointing, though. Once again, it offered only a diatonic keyboard,a flat soundboard, no trompette (or rather, a string so named, but without any suggestion of a dog) and a rather bland-looking peghead . Thought I, "Never fear: I'll simply improve on the basic outline". So I sketched in positions for an accidental row, drew up a nice Baroque style peghead (after some cursory observations of instruments in the Yale collection), added in the dog-kennel, &c., ordered up some spruce, rosewood, ebony, bone, MOP, tools and accessories, and plunged in. The result, while fairly attractive, was (as you might expect) a HGLO (Hurdy-Gurdy- Like Object) with all the musical quality of a cat in a blender. (Note: I haven't made any experiments myself to test the validity of this analogy; so no outraged letters, please...) The plans were, of course, full of flaws: for one thing, the keybox was far too narrow, causing the chanter strings to hit the tangents far too easily. That was one of the first bits of rebuilding done; along with my realization of the folly of trying to make the accidental-key shafts out of bone, as I kept cracking them while trying to get the tangents tight enough. I also had attempted to put in a banded wheel - the band was cherry, as I recall - but wore it down to nothing trying to get it trued. I used holly for the second band, only to have it meet nearly the same fate as the first. (I even did experiments with silk ribbon and leather, to no success). Another, later 'improvement' was an adjustable main bridge ( after having spent so much time fruitlessly raising and lowering the strings, trying to improve the tone): I tried a version that I thought (cleverly!) would be adjustable both vertically and horizontally; but in the end settled for the vertical adjustment only. I may keep that feature anyway........ The trompette sounded pretty feeble, so I moved the bridge down a bit (off of the brace on which it had been sitting), which seemed to improve it slightly, but not much. I also managed, with the limited tools I had, to make a new, slightly larger knob for the crank (still a bit too small, as I didn't have the wood I wanted in sufficient size). Most recently, after getting a copy of Destrem & Heidemann's book, I reworked the keyboard. The new shafts are holly (bottom row dyed black), with tangents made in a more proper fashion; I went back to a plain birch-ply wheel; tried some of their tricks with the dog (a new one, of course: remember the proverb), and thought I heard some improvement......... Unfortunately, a family tragedy intervened; and I wasn't in much spirit to continue the work for a few years. It wasn't really until getting onto the HG List that I thought I might take up the challenge of that project again. There are a number of revisions yet to be made: I will most likely have to move the wheel up from the bridge a bit, which involves enlarging the soundboard hole yet further; the cuurent axle will probably have to be replaced with a longer one; and the soundboard will have to be jacked up and a soundpost installed (another detail the plans omitted). That, along with getting the keybox slots fitted more accurately, will be quite a handful. The obvious question arises: is it worth the trouble? I put a lot of time and money into the finish and trimming of this instrument; to consign it to the dustheap of history would be rather a blow. But, if need be, I might have to throw the towel in on the poor thing (perhaps salvage the trim pieces &c.), and start again from scratch. I might also consider commissioning a new instrument from a reputable builder, or a restored older instrument (note to Alden: did you get my email on that subject?); so as to understand what a properly built HG should be like. Does anyone know of any makers in the Northeast US that they could recommend? I await your verdict....... As ever, Bill Steinmayer Mystic, CT (PS: As the instrument herein described remains more or less a fantasy than a reality, I think it fitting to offer a painting of mine which features a glimpse of it:) http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/g/u/guilielmus/hurdygurdyred.jpg.html ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.
