I have just finished taking a cheap H-G (£800) which I bought from a maker in Sicily in 2008, and have finally made it playable. I have learnt a heck of a lot through the experience, but it is no longer a cheap H-G. I think that what I started with was although not from a kit, an instrument made from a set of plans by someone who was not used to the hurdy-gurdy, which amounts to the same thing.
I had Neil Brook replace the inadequate pegs (one of which snapped) with Pegheds. He also replaced the feeble Manivelle with one from one of his existing instruments. I have had to make a completely new set of tangents, as the ones supplied were not man enough for the job, and quickly started rotating in the keys far too easily. Neil also had to move one of the bridges, as it was in the wrong place. It only had a single nut, which I have divided, so that it can be tuned properly. I had to pack out the axle with greased cardboard disks to stop the wheel moving, and I had to reshape the wheel completely, so that it runs at the angle of the strings, and has no wobble to the edge. All of these things would not necessarily be obvious to someone making a kit, but I would say that essentially, if it has all the right parts, in the right places, then it is not irretrievable, but may need a lot of fettling to get a decent sound. Get some good strings too, bad strings give bad sound. Destrem and Heidemann's book on hurdy-gurdy adjustment and maintenance has most of the information needed for these sort of jobs, and I learnt how to make tangents from Neil's DVD. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for, and if you don't want to do all of this sort of thing yourself, you need to buy an instrument from a good maker. They may start out as expensive, but you can now get a decent one for around the £1000 mark, and I am guessing that the kit, added to the many hours making it even if it ends up playable will not fall far short of this if you value both your time and sanity. The main problem with these kits is not that they aren't very good. It is that they put off potential players by frustrating them. Regards Geoff > Subject: Re: [HG-new] Hurdy Gurdy > From: [email protected] > Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2010 12:29:52 -0400 > To: [email protected] > > Jerry, the good news is that you'll get quite a bit of sympathy here and some > reasonable help on how to resolve the problems. Some of the list members have > been through this. What is your level of experience in woodworking and > instrument building? I don't think people will necessarily want to walk you > through everything that needs to happen, but if you are comfortable working > with some general instructions and figuring out how to go from there, I think > you'll get what you need. > > -Arle > > On Jun 4, 2010, at 11:14 AM, Jerry Sowers wrote: > > > This experience is my first with the hg,yes. It is a musicmakers instrument > > and I have necer been so sorry as to make this purchase. I am thinking that > > I may not get another one as I do not need to spend so much on another one > > and get "burned" again. I really like the music and really wanted to get an > > instrument so that I could learn to play it. I play gospel hymns in a group > > and wanted it to be part of my efforts. Sad to say this is a very expensive > > lesson for me. Jerry > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "hurdygurdy" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy > > The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at > http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new > subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. _________________________________________________________________ http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/197222280/direct/01/ Do you have a story that started on Hotmail? Tell us now -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.
