For someone who is handy, there are plans and instructions out there that will provide you a much more playable instrument than the MusicMakers kit. If you have some instrument building experience it is helpful, but not necessary, for success.
In this venture, please remember that building a really servicable instrument, expecially if you have not built one before, will be a trade. Count on your time being worth about 1/3 of what you expect to be able to trade it for. In other words, if you make $20 per hour, and you expect to build a machine equal to a $3500 commercial gurdy, expect to put in about 450 hours or more. This is OK if you have time to trade to the project, and you can build a beautiful and functional instrument if you take the time and patience to research, study, and focus on every little detail. I have a slightly different situation - I may not actually have the time, but I do have a burning desire to build things - a desire stronger than my desire to play things. So I build starting with quick concept pieces that help me understand, and mock-ups and dummy parts, and I study books and ask questions, and now I am in the process of building a 'fictional' medieval gurdy (one that theoretically could have existed, but that we have not found evidence of). I was very cocky when I started this project - it was going to be built in a month and was going to be the last gurdy I ever needed. Harsh reality sets in, and I now understand that if this instrument is finished enough to display to the public before OTW next year, it will be a miracle. Luckily I have my sinphone to play in the interim - it is far from pretty but it satisfies the cravings, and it really sounds good from the choir loft in the local church. Now, I am still cocky enough to believe that this will be the only gurdy I will ever need, but my whole 'wonder-month' mentality is gone. So if you have a stronger desire to play than to build, I would suggest that you could probably save enough money to buy a good instrument in the time it would take you to build a good instrument. But if you have an equally strong desire to build and play, then there is nothing quite like stringing the instrument up for the first time and hearing the pathetic, horrible screeches and squawks, and turning them into musical sounds by the work of your own hands. It is quite satisfying. Either way, welcome and good luck Chris *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 12/17/2007 at 11:16 AM Joe Mejia wrote: Hello group, My name is Joe and I'm brand new to the hurdy-gurdy. As a matter of fact, I neither know how to play nor do I own a hurdy-gurdy. But I am looking into fixing both of those problems soon. I've been researching the instrument and watching this mailing list for a little while and I've come to the conclusion that I want a hurdy with a chromatic keyboard. I read that it opens up many more options for playing music. I also want one that is affordable, since I am but a poor college student trying to finish up school. The latter part has been a real issue so far. This isn't a cheap hobby! So, I found some kits on the internet in my price range, but the problem is they have diatonic keyboards (Or tangents? What is the correct term?). I was wondering, since I am somewhat handy at tinkering, would it be possible to convert a diatonic kit, such as the one found at musikit.com (http://www.musikit.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=hurdy), into a chromatic keyboard setup? Thanks in advance, - Joe Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live. Share now!
