It was twenty years ago today , sergeant Pepper taught .... er .. wrong
beginning
It was ten years ago Nicolas Boulerice ( from the band" Vent du Nord" ) and
I
were working very hard at figuring what we were doing , while building
our first HG ( the Dewitt Flemmish style )
there was not much info around at the time , and surprisingly many
facts about violin and guitar making did not seem to apply to the HG .
The " cherry on the sunday " came when Nicolas bought a children's cello
bridge , thinking that it would be much better than anything we could make
.
The result was really lousy , so back at looking at the photographies
of existing instruments with a magnifiying glass , Their bridges were
very thick
, very much so . such a thing would never work on a violin or cello but it
was
the tradition on a HG . Very strange .
While making the usual jokes about HG and coffee grinder , it became
obvious that it was just impossible to grind coffee with a bow .
A few days later , and incredible ice storm hit Québec , leaving me
with out electricity for a week :
http://electest.wordpress.com/category/tempete/
and some time to work on the tangents by the window light .
On the battery powered radio, one word came every two minutes :
" generators " everybody was talking , searching , .. and stealing
électrical generators .
A HG does look like a hand cranked generator , no other instrument
( a church organ mayby ? but help is needed for the bellows )
produces as strong a sound generation . three bridges , a glued keyboard
two or three sound posts , a back held on your belly with a leather strap
a big gap in the sound board , who cares ... it is the ultimate in sound
generation . The thin cello bridge transmitted to many of all those
frequenciies / harmonic/whatever , a big thick bridge was needed
as a sound filter .
So this is my theory why the HD is so different of all other string
instruments .
I offer it to your discussion as a gift for this Fête des rois ( jan 6 )
Gold , incense and rosin , who can ask for more .....
Henry
From: Jon Redpath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [HG] "a Newbie question"
Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 22:56:29 +0000 (GMT)
Micheal
We each built/ made, a violin and viola and did a spectral analysis on
the sound boards. We had to prove the difference in tone and volume not
just with our lugs but on paper. I also made 7 smallpipe chanters out of
totally different woods and showed the different tonal and harmonic
qualities of each. Its true when you remove the keybox the the air movement
quadruples. Covering all the holes made little or no difference.
I did not actually play the gurdy when I did this ,but I did manage to
borrow a Boudet and made a bit of a noise ( I think that is the correct
term ). The harmonics on the screen were quite incredible.
Michael Muskett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } Jon,
I am no mathematician but I fail to see how is possible to disprove a
theoretical negative. Of course, on the face of it, the vibrations sold be
stifled by the weight of the keybox, but then a lot of energy is put in,
which is perhaps a combination of string weight and tension. And then there
is a whacking big slot in the soundboard but it still works, so there
must be something wrong with negative theories. How did you prove this
other than demonstrating?
Michael
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
Jon Redpath
Sent: 06 January 2008 19:36
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [HG] "a Newbie question"
After watching people playing for the past 40 years and playing for the
past 4 years I have never seen a string breaking due to chien use. There is
not excessive pressure by the string on the chien. As you tension the
string it lifts the chien off the body, minutely and when you rotate the
handle in an irregular motion it vibrates on the inlay on the face of the
body. I studied music technology as an adult student and one of the things
I helped prove was that a hurdy gurdy theoretically should not work.
Happily I was able to prove the theory wrong.
