Re: [HG-new] HG Volume

[Kazimierz Verkmastare]

You know, at design and building time you design qualities into an instrument like volume, bass and treble response, sustain and projection.   Years ago I built my first gurdy, a sinphone, from scratch, without the benefit of plans and with only the vibrating string length in hand and a few photographs I had collected of later instruments.  When I started, I didn't know anything about the proper parts of a gurdy, but I knew the $20 Havelina special wasn't exactly a proper instrument, so I designed the sinphone to be my personal classroom.  Everything above the shaft bearings is removable and changable, except for the keyslip spacing.  And I didn't expect a concert-level instrument out of this one, just a bunch of learning.  I got more than I expected, both in learning and in the quality of the instrument that came out in the end.  It is not a Gotschky or Nagy or Hackman or Eaton, but it is really a serviceable instrument, and the project on the bench now (for the last 4 years) makes use of every bit of what I learned.  People often try to dissuade folks from building their instruments, especially beginners, and I can't entirely disagree.  There are benefits to trying and building, but they are usually the benefits appreciated by the kind of folks who will build anyway, not really appreciated by everyone.  But here's a benefit for you in your case - you can add a bunch of knowledge to your experience because this is your instrument and you can play with it as you will.   So back to my first instrument. Even the soundboard floats.  I built this thing like a sherman tank to start with, bridges that were heavy and thick, a soundboard that was thick, nuts that were bulky.  I tried every string type I could find, and it was still quiet.  Not even the big cello strings I tried (yes, just and experiment) make a decent volume of sound.   I can say that for some reason I did a better job of cottoning very early on than I seem to be able to do now - I think it was the particular type of cotton I was using.  The University of Arkansas every year plants a few experimental cottton varieties, and I just kind of wander over to the edge of the farm every year and abscond with a sandwich baggie full of bolls.  But the answer wasn't in the cotton, and wasn't in the tension or string angle - I got lucky and discovered much after the fact that I accidentally designed both pretty well.   I am not a professional, but as a well know 'jack of all trades' I have found myself called upon often to work on instruments for folks who like my prices (I often work for beer, especially for friends).  So I have seen a lot of instruments of different types come through my shop, and have had to learn a lot on the fly to help make them work.  Thus I started building the instruments I wanted, and the first of each one ends up being a hack instrument, something I can learn on, break, fix, modify, and experiment with, because I don't have the luxury of having good teaching luthiers in my area, or the luxury of having the money or time to go visit all of the pros I want to (I go visit some, but far fewer than I would like).   So taking my experiential knowledge, first thing I did was to start thinning the bridge.  Understanding that most bowed string mutes are simply mass that you add to the bridge, and having some experience with a few student instruments that I had to work on that were deadened simply by the addition of the mass of a small bridge pickup, I took the bridge on my instrument down to half of what I thought was needed.  It is still super strong, but the volume improved with each weight reduction to a point.  The neat thing about this part is the improvement sounded rather linear - an expected level of improvement each thinning pass until the improvement just stopped (I think it was because I started to remove enough wood from the feet of the bridge that I was now reducing vibration transfer.  So I stopped)   Once I got to the point that I wasn't getting louder by modifying the bridge, I started to work with the soundboard.  I took thinning passes off it with a find grit surface sander and kept re-installing strings and trying it.  The result was not what I expected, there was a limited improvement at first, but each after the first half dozen showed dramatic improvement.  Because the bridge is so close to the slot for the wheel, I figured that it would be able to vibrate freely and that it would need the extra thickness for support.  I figured wrong.  So with a thinned bridge, wound steel strings and a thinner soundboard, I am now in the enviable position of being told by our amateur medieval ensemble to go play from the kitchen while they are in the living room.   Remember, the strings are the 'core personality' or the instrument, of any instrument.  But how that personality is expressed on strings is 90% bridge and soundboard.  You can make some changes, minor changes, in volume and more major changes in tonal character by changing strings, but if you have the proper string setup for your instrument (tension, wheel pressure, rosin, cotton) then the change in volume between string types is not huge.  To change the basic volume of the instrument, you have to remove or add mass or area to, or improve or restrict the ease of vibration of, the parts that transfer vibration from the strings to the air to your ear.   Again, I am not a professional, but I have experienced a similar situation to what you have now, and my experience tells me that the things I did worked in my instrument's case.  Your mileage will vary, of course, but take a look and see if you can see any of these possible problems.  Really nice thing about having built your own - you have the freedom to modify and do what you feel needs to be done, and you have all the answers to the structural questions, you can be more comfortable that you will ever be with an instrument built by someone else.   Chris > Hello! > > As you may know, seeing as I've shared this with you before, I have > a home made hurdy. It really needs a lot of fixing and adjusting. > But right now I'm dealing with one major issue: The hurdy appears > to be too quiet. I know this sounds weird (come on, HGs are always > loud and irksome!) but it's really bugging me. > > What could be the cause of this? And: How can I make it louder? > Could it be the strings? I'm using guitar and violin strings, wound > steel. > > I've heard that gut strings are louder and really fit for the HG. > Is that true? Should I switch? > > Thanks, anyone -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to hurdygurdy@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to hurdygurdy+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com 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. 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