Okay. I know of a specialty violin repair shop. I've been playing it
without the wire-wrapped drone so far, and it works just fine for
picking out little tunes.
Thanks.
~Alina
On May 27, 2007, at 6:43 AM, Arle Lommel wrote:
Hi Alina,
Are you guys saying that if my instrument has a certain type of
string, it shouldn't be tuned in certain ways? I'm a little
confused because of all the different advice I'm getting...
What you can tune your instrument to depends on the strings you are
using. Since you play violin, think of the difference between the
various strings. They all have the same length, but they are
different thicknesses, and if you try to tune one of them to the
pitch of another, you will either break it (if you tune it too
high) or have it loose and useless (if you tune it too low). The
same applies to your hurdy-gurdy. If your instrument is strung as
an A instrument and you tune the drones up to D, you stand a very
good chance of breaking them.
My advice I sent to you in a personal e-mail was to use E-A-A
tuning. This is because it is almost certain that the strings you
have on your instrument were selected with this tuning in mind,
unless you know otherwise, e.g., if you requested a different
tuning or if a previous owner set up something else. This tuning is
used because Hungarian traditional music is played in the nominal
key of A (with a number of different modes, including natural
minor). Since you are a beginner, I would recommend using this
tuning until you are familiar with the instrument and know what you
actually want instead. Then you can go through the string-selection
process and pick what you want.
I would really recommend that you not start out with trying to
restring the instrument, because (a) string selection is something
of a black art and successfully mastering that black art requires
that you have some idea of the outcome you want, and (b) having to
deal with the vagaries of strings will only add to the initial
difficulties you will face. So take a few months to get to know
your instrument and then, when you know it well, start
experimenting with strings.
In terms of getting started, the fact that your big string is
broken isn't really a major problem. Learner exercises on the
tekerő usually start out using the two strings you do have and
leave the big drone off until you have mastered the other two. You
will, however, want the bass drone fairly soon. Perhaps the best
option (short of having Béla send you his recommended string) is to
go into a violin repair shop with your instrument and the broken
string and talk to the person who works on instruments there and
ask for help in getting an equivalent string. (I would go to a
specialty shop even though you'll pay a little more for the string,
because you'll get someone who actually understands strings there.
If you go into a general music store -- the sort that caters to
schools and hobbyist guitar players -- you're unlikely to get
anyone who really knows enough to help you find the right string.)
Best,
Arle
