I agree with Chris, it is entirely possible to build a working hurdy
gurdy without plans if you want it bad enough, I did so over 30 years
ago when information was even harder to come by than it is today, I
had no woodworking skills and bought or borrowed tools as I needed
them. I ended up with a pretty unique diatonic creation, made out of
mostly second hand furniture but it looked like a hurdy gurdy and,
maybe more by luck than judgement, it sounded like one too. Like
Chris, I learned an awful lot in the process and had no qualms about
getting in there with a chisel or knife to fix things when they went
wrong or to add improvements. It was a fun thing to do. Just be
prepared to keep going, to quote Roy Trotter: "Making a hurdy gurdy
is like eating peanuts, you can't stop at one." By the way, the last
HG I made was a couple of years ago, again without plans other than
plotting out the keyboard, it was for my son who was three at the
time, the body was made from a toy wooden boat. It works.
Juan
I am going to give a slightly different perspective to this issue,
one I have given before. I am in the minority here, as I consider
myself an amateur player of several instruments, not a professional,
and while I enjoy getting better, I also enjoy everything else that
has to do with the older instruments - the lore, the construction,
the materials and techniques, thedesign and aesthetics, the
personalizations and the integration of new technologies into the
instruments. And I like to learn by doing, and I like to build
things as a tool to learn.
I built my first Sinphone (medieval box predecessor to a true hurdy
gurdy) without plans, without a model to go by, with only some basic
knowledge of structures, a whole lot of tool knowledge (and a bunch
of tools) and 1 piece of information - 354mm. The vibrating string
length. It is amazing what you can do with just that one piece of
information.
I used woods I knew to be acceptable from some of my previous
instrument experiments. I experimented, and with some work I came
up with an instrument that I enjoy playing and some folks enjoy
listening to. I play a few French tunes, and I do the unthinkable -
I play a bunch of bagpipe standards, things like 'The Minstrel Bard"
and "Amazing Grace", and I play harmony parts on some old English
folk songs and I even have my own cover of "Smoke on the Water". In
other words, I do not fall into the category that most folks here
fall into - students and performers of traditional Hurdy Gurdy.
So while a professional would probably find my first instrument a
dismal failure, I find it a spectacular success. I learned so much
from that instument that I never would have learned by reading about
or looking at someone else's work. And the second instrument I
built, which was really just a technology tester for what will be a
much nicer, late medieval piece of my own design, turned out better
by leaps. So if my goal was to acquire an instrument on the level
of Wolfgang or Cali and Alden's offerings, I failed miserably. But
I acquired in my experiment so much more.
I also have to say that I do not get discouraged. I will not let
the moderate quality and excessive finickiness of my first
instrument put me off from continuing to study and develop my
talents, and one day I would like to be able to play proficiently
some of the music I have seen videos for from OTW, but that will
come and I have patience.
I had made plans to be at OTW this year, but in a real surprise
circumstance, my wife and I discovered we are going to have another
baby in Spetember sometime, so I have to put that trip on hold for
yet another year. But hopefully next year, if nothing major gets in
the way, I will be bringing my current project and letting some of
the experts critique it - that is how I like to learn and how I like
to 'network'. And maybe someone more proficient than I will help me
find the instrument's voice.
So if you are the unique kind of individual that likes the ride as
much as the destination, and you don't consider failures while
learning to be anything but successes in disguies, then I
whole-heartedly suggest cutting wood, making mistakes, building a
few 'cats with digestive tract problems', having some leughs, and
learning a ton in the process. If you like to figure things out
yourself, it is possible. There are several reasonable plans, and a
few books with plans and construction articles. You can, if you
have hand skills and a technical mind, work through the problems and
build something that will be, at least to you, a wonderful thing.
But if you are mainly a performer, mostly interested in playing a
really nice instrument, then I suggest just buying one. There are
not, on the market today, any kits that will yield right from the
box an instrument of the caliber any of the professional HG luthiers
are building today.
Chris
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 5/26/2008 at 10:53 PM William Gull wrote:
Greetings unto the list!!!!!!
My name William Gull and I reside in Nevada, Iowa and I am a
first time poster to this list.. I am a silversmith and hand
engraver who does historical reenactments for both recreation and
and as a market for my hand work. It was through my love of both
medieval and 18Th century music that I was introduced to the
wonders of the hurdy gurdy. Since then it has been an
ever growing passion to learn to play one.
First things first, before learning to play I need to find an
instrument to play on. Being a hands on sort of person, I have
decided I would like to try building one. I know this will be a
definite challenge, but it is one I am willing to undertake. Like
any new project I undertake, I am starting by doing research and
gathering as much information as I can. There in lies the problem.
While I am slowly collecting and reading as many books on all
aspects of the hurdy gurdy as I can get my hands on, there seems
to be almost no information on the quality of the hurdy gurdy plans
and kits available. Does anyone on this list have any
recommendations or opinions on the commercially available kits and
building plans??? What would you recommend for the beginner as far
as must have books?
I appreciate any and all input that will get me closer to my goal
of learning the hurdy gurdy!!!!
In a shared hurdy gurdy passion,
William
