Simon's advice is good -- I second everything he said. Buying hurdy-gurdies is typically slow and expensive, as we all know on this list. I'm not sure what currency units we're talking about here (US dollars? UK pounds? Euros?) but a nice luteback is roughly a $6000 (USD) instrument new, and often not much less used. Also, turnaround time from a custom luthier is often around two years, more often than not you have to get them from Europe, and good used instruments are hard to come by. I should point out, though, that at least two good makers build a cheaper "production" model that is much less money, much faster to get, and serves nicely for a beginning to intermediate player for a long time. These are Olympic Musical Instruments' "Chinook" and "Orca", and Helmut Gotschy's "Phoenix Standard". I play a Phoenix, it cost me about $2200 new, I had it a month after I ordered it, and it's served me well for four years. It's easy to adjust, it's very durable, plays coups fairly crisply, and has a nice full sound when I've got enough rosin on the wheel, even when playing for a dance or in a loud session. It's also very plain looking, doesn't quite have the rich tone of a French luteback, and doesn't get oohs and ahs. Would I rather have a French luteback? Sure! Anyone want to give me one? Am I otherwise satisfied with my little "plain jane?" Very much so. Maybe Alden can give an update as to typical turnaround times these days for a Chinook. Helmut's shop is in Germany (now run by his assistant Alexandra) so you have to pay shipping from Germany if you're not meeting up at a festival. The website is _www.gotschy.com_ (http://www.gotschy.com) . Olympic Instruments, as we all hopefully know, is _www.hurdygurdy.com_ (http://www.hurdygurdy.com) , and somewhat more local for us North Americanos. Happy shopping! Mitch Gordon Guerneville, CA, US [email protected] writes:
Hello, sorry to say it, but 2k - 25k is a normal price for a hurdy-gurdy. Stop comparing it with idustrial made guitars and start comparing it to other handcrafted instruments (violins, cellos, da gambas...) and you will see its rather cheap (count all the parts that need to be made, and you will see its a bargain). Its better to go on saving for a while than spending 1k for something useless. With something like 1.7k at hand you might be able to find a reasonable second hand offer. Ask the hurdy-gurdy makers for second hand instruments, as they sometimes know about instruments that a customer wants to sell when buying a new one (and they will tell you because it helps the customer who is giving them even more money ;-). Sometimes gurdies get offered on this list. If you find offers at places like ebay, be cautious and better ask the community on this list about it, even if this bears the risk to wake up other possible buyers. The risk to buy a flowerpot in hurdy-gurdy design via online shopping is serious. S. -- 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.
