Come on, don't be like that!
NO ONE here discouraged building, we just told the ORIGINAL poster that
his perspective of building himself a gurdy for less than a very
affordable kit, with enough profit margin to sell it for 1200 was not a
realistic goal to have.
People on my side of the discussion made the point (with actual figures
to support it) that one should build for the fun and personal
satisfaction behind the endeavour, but not to get his hands on a cheap
instrument. HG makers do NOT work with a wide enough margin to make it
self-evident and certain that anyone with some tools and some
woodworking experience would be able to - in his first attempt - make
himself an actual working gurdy (and not a HGLO) for much less that
someone with a fully equipped shop, all jigs and molds already properly
made and spare parts already made and fitted (bushings, bearings,
tangents, etc).
What there is no place here for is this kind of immaturity that
interprets a very good discussion with great points being made on BOTH
sides of the argument and twists it immensely, taking it personally and
distorting the whole point.
On Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 12:48 PM, timw <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Description The general subject of the list is hurdy-gurdies: their
music, players, maintenance, recordings, events, construction, and
anything else that seems pertinant. We welcome discussion of all
aspects of the instrument.
This group seems to delight in not supporting construction, but rather
discourage it. I am the obvious newcomer here and this hasn't been a
welcoming group.
You can sigh comfortably, this is my final post. Tim, newcomer and
amateur luthier.
On Oct 30, 9:52 pm, Felicia Dale <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> Well said, Leonard.
>
> Felicia.
>
> On Oct 29, 2011, at 11:16 AM, Leonard Williams wrote:
>
>
>
> > I built my own hurdy gurdy after years of longing to own
one
> > without the means of purchase. I had some experience with
> > woodworking, some good tools (power and hand), and very good plans
> > for an early renaissance model purchased from a professional
> > builder. Because of the bizarre grain of the wood I had (American
> > elm), I had trouble finding someone willing to surface the wood (a
> > rough plank) to my dimensions; I had to rough it on a table
saw and
> > get final thicknesses with a hand plane and scrapers. With some
> > patient telephone coaching from the designer of the instrument
I was
> > able build a simple (no trompette, single chanter, 3 drone) hurdy
> > gurdy. Howerever, it was a number of years before I finally
got the
> > “finished” instrument set up satisfactorily (This forum was a
great
> > help in the final stages!).
> > I am no longer sure of the material costs, but it was far
> > less than a professionally built instrument. I am proud of the
> > result of my labors, and builcing my gurdy fulfilled a desperate
> > need. BUT—would I do it again? I think not—I’d try to save up
and
> > buy one from a craftsman/artist who knows what he’s doing.
This is
> > certainly not intended to discourage anyone from trying to build a
> > hurdy gurdy or any instrument on his own—by all means try it if
you
> > really want to! I learned a lot from the experience and do not
> > regret it—just be aware that it requires a good deal of patience.
> > There is an element to instrument building that is purely
> > mechanical, but every collection of wooden parts is an organic
> > entity which requires its own peculiar tweaking to become a
musical
> > instrument.
>
> > Regards,
> > Leonard Williams
> > _
> > [: :]
> > / | | \
> > | | | |
> > (_==_)
> > !~¿
>
> > On 10/26/11 4:46 PM, "Steven Tucker" <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>
> >> Ulrich, why would want this discussion to stop? It's getting
> >> really interesting. There is considerable knowledge and talent
> >> here on this forum and I think the subject of "Affordable Hurdy
> >> Gurdy Construction" is worth delving into. I guess I'm assuming
> >> that someone who is looking into building their own gurdy will
> >> search this forum and discover this thread an so it's appropriate
> >> to discuss the costs and ramifications of attempting to build one
> >> from scratch within a budget.
>
> >> On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 7:25 AM, Kazimierz Verkmastare
> >> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> >>> Alden, I hope you don't mind me using you for an example.
>
> >>> Steve, will you agree with this statement - "If what you want is
> >>> an Olympic Chinook, then you shouldn't expect, unless you are
Cali
> >>> and Alden, to be able to build one for less than they do. They
> >>> have streamlined production and amortized costs, and probably
> >>> can't lower costs (materials + labor + tools) further."
>
> >> I would actually say that if what you want is an Olympic Chinook
> >> then you shouldn't expect to be able to build one at all unless
> >> you're Cali and Alden. Now if you were an experienced luthier
and
> >> had an actual Olympic Chinook in front of you, and were
experienced
> >> and proficient at top voicing, then you might expect to be
able to
> >> make a reasonably good copy, but not for less than they do.
>
> >>> So say you want a Chinook, if you are as skilled and
> >>> knowledgable as the Hackmans, you can build yourself one for
> >>> probably $1700 or $1800, real cost. (Don't remove labor cost
from
> >>> the equation - your time is worth it).
>
> >> I agree with almost everything you've been saying except the part
> >> about counting labor time as real cost. Now this is true if
we're
> >> talking about someone who is thinking about going into
business of
> >> making hurdy gurdies to sell, but if I want to spend my unpaid
time
> >> on learning about and building a hurdy gurdy, and don't buy
premium
> >> AAAA luthierie woods, then my total cash outlay for a
Chinook-like
> >> hurdy gurdy would be around $300 or less -- even accounting for
> >> precision bushings and a shaft from McMaster Carr and a AA spruce
> >> top from Luthier's Mercantile.
>
> >> The expensive exotic hardwoods and highly figured woods that
> >> luthiers use in their instruments don't have anything to do with
> >> the sound quality or stability of the instrument. ( I could
launch
> >> into a huge discussion proving this statement, but it's already
> >> been hashed out quite thoroughly in many forums and technical
> >> papers.) Beautiful wood is an artistic choice.
>
> >> [...]
>
> >>> Tools? You don't need tools. A pocketknife, a piece of broken
> >>> window glass, a hacksaw blade nailed to a bent willow twig, a
> >>> carpenter's pencil and a leather punch, that's all you need,
> >>> right? No.
>
> >> I would contend that all you need is a bow saw with a thin blade
> >> and a thick blade, a luthier's knife (made from an old file), a
> >> steel scraper, a drill, and possibly a wood carvers gouge.
> >> (Assuming you buy the shaft, bushings, and top wood).
> >> [...]
>
> >>> [...] But a player who wants a good instrument but can't afford
> >>> one and has little woodworking skills does not stand a great
> >>> chance of success in building a great gurdy fast and with only a
> >>> couple of hundred bucks to throw at the project. And those are
> >>> the folks we address here.
>
> >> A few years back, at a music camp, I met a very excellent gurdy
> >> player who had built his own. It had a great sound, easily
> >> comparable to the $5000 range instruments also at camp. It
was the
> >> first instrument he ever built (he was about 24 years old),
and he
> >> made it using only hand tools and a power drill in his apartment
> >> living room. The body was a converted $10 classical guitar, the
> >> shaft and bearings were wood, and the wheel was made from a scrap
> >> of Baltic Birch plywood. It was quite fascinating to watch the
> >> "nose in the air" disdain from other gurdy players turn to
> >> mortification when they realized that this disreputable looking
> >> instrument made their very expensive showpiece sound like a
thinly
> >> wailing rodent. (their words, not mine, said in good jest I'm
sure.)
> >> This kid wasn't a genius, didn't come from a professional
> >> woodworking family, had only had the experience of playing on a
> >> friends gurdy "a few times". He told me it took him about two
> >> weeks of evenings to put together and the hardest part was
cutting
> >> the key guides and getting the dog to buzz right.
>
> >> -S
>
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