Fi wrote,
> I know a lot a people who have bought various kits and made the instruments. > Many of them have been happy with the results even though the instrument > often requires a fair bit of tweaking. What is it about the hurdy gurdy > that makes it particularly unsuited to kit form. Is it the lack of the > trompette or the complex mechanicals? Good questions. Here's the problem: it's a complex instrument, and to build it well requires a certain level of precision. The Musikits instrument, for example, has a piece of 1/4" cold rolled steel rod threaded on each end for the shaft. In the time I have before I go to bed, I can't really even start to outline the mechanical problems with this choice in terms of stability, repeatability, precision and longevity. It's not that I have a hoity-toity attitude about these instruments, though I've gotten my share of letters telling me that I'm an arrogant elitist for rejecting the sound and playability of this instrument. It's just that if what we're looking for is a clean, rich sound, there's no way to get it with this shaft, these bearings (it doesn't have any) and this wheel, not to mention the keys, tangents, keybox, bridge, bracing, handle, crank, nuts (not movable), etc. It's like living in France for a year with the fabulous bakery just down the street where you can get fresh country bread every day, then coming back to the States and finding that the best you can get is three-day-old Wonder bread at Safeway. Yes, technically the French bread and the Wonder bread are both breads: they're made with flour and yeast, and they're baked in an oven, and they get sliced up so we can eat them... but there's a world of difference. The Wonder bread is a pale shadow of the Italian. Once you've tasted the French, you can't really go back. And yes, the Musikits doesn't have a trompette, which is so much of the fun of playing the HG that not having it seems such a waste. It's possible to retrofit the Musikits to have one, but it's not designed for it, certainly, and you'd HAVE to get a new handle too - the little button knob drawer-pull thing they give you is totally inadequate for playing the dog. OK, stepping off my soapbox now to go find some really good French bread... Alden
