Okay, folks, everybody has gotten off onto the "can you build it" track. Yep, you can build one, and if you are playing it yourself and tweaking your life away (or rebuilding and tweaking, like us), go for it. It can be a rewarding and educational endeavor. My problem with the original post is this fellow, no matter how skilled at woodworking and well-intentioned and loaded with personal integrity he may be, intends to sell his gurdy for a profit when he's done. He does not play, has stated no intention to learn, has not indicated he knows anyone who knows anything about playing the hurdy gurdy to play his creation and advise improvement, just intrigued with building one.
Yes, if you have good woodworking skills, can find good plans and follow them to the letter, you can build a good looking instrument, which will probably sell on ebay. But, will it sound good and perform well? Or, without intending to, will you have taken money from someone who thinks they are getting a bargain and a playable instrument and failed that customer (who being new at the instrument himself may not know it for quite some time)? How many on this list have bought instruments that turned out to need a lot more money and work to make them playable, even had to have them rebuilt or did you give up dream of playing (probably more people not on this list gave up)? How many would have been better off saving their initial investment, waiting and adding to it, to get an entry level professionally built item instead of someone else's woodworking experiment? It stops being all about you and your skill, tools and investment when your full intent goes beyond "gee, I want to try to build one" and goes on to "I need to sell it for a profit." You can build a playable guitar if you are good at following plans and directions, but a one-off hurdy gurdy fit to be sold to an aspiring player? I've got a problem with that. Oh, and by the way, when considering the cost of materials and trying to keep that under $500, don't forget strings (decent strings, essential to sounding good), or is gut string making from scratch in the plan, too? All the Best to all concerned, Barbara On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 3:00 AM, Steven Tucker <[email protected]>wrote: > So this discussion seems to have boiled down to two camps, those who say > it's possible to make a good instrument for a low cost by spending enough > time on the project, and those who say it's impossible to make any > instrument without spending more money than buying a professionally made > one. > > So those of you who say it'll cost you more to build one than buy one, > where are your numbers? What exactly is it that is going to cost more > money? I'm seriously interested in specifically what you are thinking the > money will go towards. Do you truly believe you can't build a good sounding > instrument without spending thousands of dollars on exotic hard woods (and > therefore a beginner will ruin more expensive wood than a new instrument > will cost.) Or do you believe that only a $600 block plane will make the > proper top for a good sounding instrument? > > Lets have some specifics, not just a generalized "it'll cost more" > statement. > > -Steve > > On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 10:27 PM, Kazimierz Verkmastare <[email protected]>wrote >> >> >> [snip]. . . >> > > >> It is a project done for enjoyment, and because I am wasting resources as >> I am building knowledge, it is NOT going to be significantly more economical >> than if I had commissioned it. ... that it will end up expensive (the >> cost is truly inversely proportional to your skill and resources), >> > -- > 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. > -- 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.
