Sounds like a REALLY fun project! It reminds me of the plans for a 'clog
fiddle' - I really love the idea of recycling one instrument into something
new. Although it seems to me that a cello body would be a bit large ?
I haven't seen any replies to this yet, so I'll throw in my two cents:
1) Wheel thickness /diameter: Whatever other responses you get on this, it
probably bears mentioning that you want to make sure to make the wheel in
such a way that it won't be affected by temperature / humidity changes.
Wood swells along grain lines, so if you use a single piece of wood you will
likely have a wheel that is circular part of the wheel, and oval shaped at
other times. A wheel built of multiple layers of wood works well, with the
grain alternating directions for each layer. This will prevent seasonal
distortions of the wheel. I like Baltic birch, although some very talented
makers are using other types of wood products (I think I recall seeing MDF
at one point?) Of course there's no reason why you can't build up the
layers yourself either. An 8" wheel would work, but man! what a large
instrument. The larger the wheel, the larger the instrument has to be to
accommodate it. Generally speaking you tend not to see hurdy gurdies with a
wheel much larger than 7"; I feel that this is likely for ergonomic reasons-
in that it produces strain on the wrists & forearms to wield such an
instrument. Thickness: Usually a 3/4" wheel is pretty adequate, maybe a
smidge thicker for that large of strings. I don't know what your scale
length is, but I would think 1 & 1/2" would be a bit overkill
2) Placement: With hurdy gurdies you tend to see the bridge as close as
possible to the wheel. Why is this? The wheel behaves like a violin bow,
but then violinists play with their bow much further from their bridge. By
increasing the distance between the wheel & bridge, you might gain a little
in resonance (most noticeable in lower midrange frequencies to my ears), but
then the arc of vibration of the strings increases too, and you may have
issues of chatter against the tangents.
3) Handle radius: you don't want this any larger than the wheel, and usually
you tend to see them a little smaller. Setting it up this way makes playing
more about the 'wrist' and less about the elbow. Although I've never
fooled around with an 8" wheel so this is based on experience with a wheel
size of 6-7". With an 8" wheel you might want a considerably smaller radius
(in terms of ratio).
I'm really itching to see how this turns out for you. Best of luck
Cheers,
George
----- Original Message -----
From: "maraujo" <[email protected]>
To: "hurdygurdy" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 3:51 PM
Subject: [HG-new] Hello to all, I have a question about hurdy wheel theory
Just joined this group, and I'm excited to learn from all of you
scattered hurdy gurdy enthusiasts. I am currently planing my own
hurdy gurdy design. I'm going adapt a old cello body to make a large
musical furniture piece with legs. I would like to use cello strings
for a deeper tone than a conventional hurdy gurdy but this leaves me
with some critical design questions. Here are three of the more
important ones...
1. Wheel Diameter/Thickness:
If I'm using a longer vibrational length of string would it be wise to
use a larger diameter wheel? I would think it takes more energy to
get the string humming and thus I should use a larger diameter so that
the outside edge of the wheel has a higher speed. Should the
thickness of the wheel be increased as well? Say an 8" diameter with
a 1 1/2" thickness?
2. Wheel Placement:
Ive had a very difficult time finding a rule for what fraction of the
string should be between the center line of the wheel and the bridge.
I have examined some plans and found a range of variable distances
people use. Should I scale up existing plans for the longer string,
or is this distance generally constant for all string lengths?
3. Handle radius:
Is there any rule for the radius of the handle as compared to that of
the wheel? This is obviously not as important because I can quickly
change out the handle if its just based on user comfort/style.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my questions. I
would appreciate any incite you have no matter how brief.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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