Hello everybody, I am new on the list as well and I have a newbie question that I am unable to find an answer about.
But lets start properly with a small introduction. I am Douwe, a 38 yo male living in the Norwegian moutains on a small farm with my wife and two girls (0 and 6). Originally I am Dutch and I work (amongst some of other trades) as a graphic designer. Since my youth I have had a medieval gen buzzing in my system. It expresses itself in many ways but it especially starts to resonate franticly if I hear the sound of the hurdygurdy. I get a lyrical feeling that I don't have with any other instrument even though I play some different instruments. Because of this lingering love I have been thinking for years about buying a hurdygurdy, but as with a lot of people my income goes straight into the household so I am on budget too low to afford one that would be to my taste. Because of this I decided to build one. I already have a plan for a hungarian HG from the music museum in Stockholm ;-) I love the "no-frills" form, it is a large one (and I am a very tall guy) and I expect a warm and rich sound, lest the right kind of tone wood will be used. But before I start with that undertaking I want to get a good feel for the instrument (on the inside and outside) so I considered buying a kit to get me going. Now I found two kits on internet. The musikit.com one is well advertised but also one that I'm sure I don't want because of it would need a lot of work to get a reasonable sound and versatility out of it. I am talking about this one: http://www.musikit.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=hurd y And I have found an other one that I can't find any additional information about and that is this one: http://www.masterkit.com/rwc/products/hurdy.htm I seems to have all the specs I am looking for except from a lacking key as I understood about this 18th century french model. But does anyone have experience with this HG-kit, or has anyone heard about it? Can I expect it to be good enough for a starter? Or is it a toy to hang on the wall? ;-). It is a budget thing really, as I can't spend more what that one would cost me. It is even above my budget. In usd bout 1000. In euros about 740. So that is the only option I found out about that might be a valid one, but it is something that I wish to validate with knowledgeable people! Maybe there are other options too that I don't know about! I'm all eyes and ears. Sorry for this very long mail, but I though that it would be right to show a bit about myself trough in it as I am new here. Any next on will be more to the point. With best regards, Douwe
