Neil Brook's Wren is around 950-1000 British pounds, and is way beyond one would think as a mere beginner's instrument...
On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 2:54 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > 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. Olympic Instruments, as we all hopefully > know, is 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]<hurdygurdy%[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. > -- 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.
