Not having the skills I wouldn't attempt to built one myself but I have
plenty of experience in other woodworking projects.
True, you could chip away with a lump of flint and eventually make a HG
I suppose but, after years of messing around with the "wrong" tool or
"making do" with a cheap version, there is just no comparison in the
final project. All woodworking tools should be precision instruments.
Good tools stay sharp longer (blunt tools damage the work). I used a
cheap set of chisels for years and then, when I broke one, I splashed
out on a good one and what a difference it made. Not only to the finish
but also (and this is maybe more important) the amount of time it took
me to do the job.
If you are going to spend a reasonable amount of money on the parts,
it's a shame to ruin them with cheap tools.
Comparison can be made with a good wine and a bottle of cheap stuff. The
cheap stuff may taste OK but when you compare it to a decent
vintage.................
I used to make whistles from elder twigs as a child and they played. Not
quite the same quality as a decent recorder though.
No, you don't need to build a steinway piano but, considering all the
bits you would need to buy, I can't see the point of making something
out of an orange crate even if it does make a piano sound.
Just my opinion of course.
Maybe one should think about building a car from scratch or buying one
from a dealer who has all the jigs etc. I know which I'd try for - even
if I had to save for longer to get it.
Colin Hill
On 25/10/2011 21:52, Steven Tucker wrote:
On Mon, 24 Oct 2011, Steven Tucker wrote:
That is a very curious statement to make: That it will cost a
lot of money to make your own instrument.
On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 4:57 PM, Alden F M Hackmann
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
For a professional level of instrument, I believe this is the case.
Still looking for details as to where the money will be spent. What
tools would you consider essential to build an instrument, and why would
it not be possible to use a cheaper alternative?
For example I know from experience that it's possible to tune up a cheap
$15 hand plane to work just as well as a high quality $300 hand plane.
(Although I admit there's no point in sharpening a $2 plane blade when
there are Hock blades for under $40.)
. . .
Wow, what shop bandsaw costs $10,000?
Perhaps I should have put "$10,000" in quotes. It's something of an
in-joke among the luthiers I know. However, any good re-sawing band saw
that will handle up to 24" boards will run you from $8,000 upwards of
$20,000.
I wish it were that simple. It's not just a matter of time, and
it's not just a matter of tools: it's a matter of skill. As
builders, we serve the sound of the instrument, and to get a really
good sound requires substantial skill, time, good tools, and good
materials. [snip. . .]
I suppose any argument here depends on what you mean by "really good"
sound. It is possible in this Internet age for a complete beginner to
do enough research to find out what exactly makes for an exceptional
sounding instrument and to devise testing and analysis methods to
actually create an exceptional sounding instrument. Although I freely
admit that the Gurdy's Chladni patterns, acoustic response
characteristics, frequency response curves, etc. have not been mapped
out so far as I can tell.
So here's another question for you all: Is there an exceptional "Gurdy"
sound? To a Classical Guitar player and a Flamenco Guitar player there
is a huge difference in sound between a Classical Guitar and a Flamenco
Guitar -- to anyone else they sound the same. Is this true for the
Hurdy Gurdy as well? All of the various gurdies I've heard in person
(YouTube doesn't count) have all had their own individual "voices", most
quite different from the others. Would anyone ever say about a hurdy
gurdy "that's an interesting sounding instrument, but it doesn't sound
like a hurdy gurdy"?
As to good materials, I know several luthiers who won't use anything but
old growth European Spruce grown above 7000' on a north slope. But then
I've heard several exceptional sounding guitars built from locally
sourced coastal Douglas Fir. (and one really good sounding guitar built
by Bob Taylor made from a shipping pallet.)
I'm not trying to dissuade people from building their own
instruments, just to dissuade them from having unrealistic
expectations about doing so.
I'll go back to my original contention (unstated) that it's not only
possible, but probable, for a beginner to build a well-working,
good-sounding, playable instrument without spending very much money
provided they are willing to put in many more hours than would be
reasonable in any production or professional level shop. Lack of skill
and knowledge can be overcome by time and diligence.
-Steve
P.S.
For what it's worth, the old builders who sawed their own wood to
thickness and cut it with planes and saws and scrapers and files
were AMAZING. However, they also spent years and years learning
their craft as apprentices, so that by the time they were building,
they had amassed ten or twenty solid years of hand skills that I can
only dream of having. That's not 500 hours, it's more like 25,000
hours. The Industrial Revolution changed all that, and now we do it
differently, investing money in tools instead of time in skills.
Either way, to get a good quality result, you're going to have to
make an investment somewhere.
Ok, this is off topic from the original thread, but I have to say my
understanding of the apprentice system is that the seven years working
in the shop was required to pay back the master who only slowly doled
out the knowledge, since he was effectively training his own
competition. That's still true today.
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