And excuse me if I have come across as aloof, or (not not come across at all, I guess) I have been getting announcements that "external mail" was cut off here at work and I haven't been home much. It now appears that it was a reference to something they did to the "internal" i.e. work, mailbox. not that they cut off the ability to send from other web-based..etc... so I am testing to see if I can use g-mail. Wish me luck (or not, if you don't recieve this, ...I Guess, ...uh, ..well... nevermind, ...or something....
If I may soften the percieved nastiness with an idiotic analogy. We are all standing around and see somebody taking off on a dirt-bike and we all yell "Hey where's your #^^&^%*& helmet, @$%&^#%&^^*!!!!!" We do it because we care. I am nothing at all like a professionial hurdygurdy maker. I have built 3 and rebuilt 2 plus assorted major surgery (sugary?) on a couple more. This latest one is a combination of the salvageable parts of the first two. The plans were insufficient. The materials were insufficient. I am taking the parts that didn't break and putting them together. Some of these parts take a lot of time to make. I want of those posters that sez " How the heck are we going to do it over when we didn't have time to do it right in the first place. " If I may return to the dirtbike analogy. Somebody might tell you." When you get to that big puddle, dont try to slash through it, it's about 8' deep. Do try to go around it to the right, the grounds to soft. Take a hard left and watch the ground..." The only plans I know of that are really any good, do not have a chromatic row. Some of the plans are really bad. Some are just hard to see. Sooner or later you will have to outsmart them. Unless you are really familiar with the instrument that may not be doable. Just learning to PLAY can be very frustrating without help. Learning to play an instrument when you don't know whether it's really any good is very frustrating, as Seth reminded me yesterday. SO, We are here for you, some of us really really want to talk about building. Some of the people on the list find it boring but we are trying to teach them how to delete that stuff. I trust y'all have found the delete button by now? Good. Anyway, the plans are usually (at best) misleading. The books are never in English. ( I had a look at the Pignol book a couple of weeks ago. It is probably illustrated enough to get you by, but...) ... OK I'm working on one and it might be ready for publication in 15 or 20 years. Meanwhile, let's discuss it. Later, Roy P.S The Varquain and the Lasnier have the reputation for being smaller instruments. I'm not sure that would be a problem. A quieter instrument is only a problem in class with 30 other HGs. My aunt likes the music, but doesn't like being in the same house with it. The only story Iv'e heard to top that is Tobie telling me that her lead singer was always complaining that her Minstrel (which I usually couldn't hear) was too loud.
