Or, taking your analogy a little further, buy one bass string, a broom handle
and a tea chest.
That's what we did during the "Skiffle" time in the 50's and we thought we had
a bass (went well with the cheap guitar and the washboard).
Whether it played music was another matter, of course but we thought it sounded
like one.
:-)
Colin Hill
----- Original Message -----
From: Minstrel Geoffrey
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 9:26 PM
Subject: Re: [HG] To build or to buy, that is the question
You can get a cheap 3/4 full upright bass ( orbass fiddle, contra bass,
double bass, etc) for $500, then you'll spend another $90 to get the action
done, another $75-$150 for bridge manuliption ( reshsping, recutting,
adjusters, etc.), new styings, as what us shipped with if is $hit most of the
time, strings will run you about $65-$500 depending what you get, and don't
forget the bow, some give you a cheap French bow, plastic & fiberglass, where a
good bow, or a decent bow still will cost you $, $$, $$$ etc. Or you go to a
pro music shop, spend about $3,000 and all that is included, minus the bow.
Cost is everything, and I spent the money for the musickit DVD on their HG, god
that sound still haunts me, oh the shivers!
Bottom line is simple, some are destined to play, some are destined to build,
some achieve greatness and do both!
But from my research, its best to get a pro-built low ended a first, you'll
get the proper sound w/o the cool and complex additions, like symepethic
strings, etc, in the end you get what you pay for, and my time is worth so much
to me, I'd rather start on the right then the otherway.
A friends dad, got him a broken down Benz, and said, has the potential of
greatness, if you put in the labor and time, use up favors owed, spend more
tricking it out, but it will be YOUR creation! But it was not his first car,
again, it all depends in the end in cost, but some things are worth the wait,
only took me 17 years for my first HG'
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 3, 2008, at 10:34, "Mark Kneitinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Not being a luthier, I have always puchased my instruments. It is a great
talent to carve and construct something. Not all Luthiers are musicians. I
mainly play strings and some winds. I have owned two Hurdy Gurdy's, the first
from a maufacturer from North Carolina. It was diatonic and I tuned it to Bb
and played it with my bagpipes. I sold it because in my opinion it was a cheap
starter instrument. The second was from a decent luthier from Europe. It didn't
take long before the wheel warped and required Alden's magic touch to make it
playable, some $1,000 later. It is playable now but still is inferior to the
$2500 and up HG's.
The lessons I've learned are:
(1) Do your homework
(2) Ask for opinions
(3) Don't make a haste decision
(3) You get what you pay for, Don't go cheap
All the analogies in the world don't add up to common sense. I regret not
buying from the Alden's and Nagy's of the world. In the end I would have been
better off because the repair costs started to add up quickly.
Thanks,
Mark from Ni
