I would suggest making all measurements in metric, and setting the default wheel size at 178 mm, for the reasons listed below:
Alden's size (7" = 177.8 mm) is normal for western instruments, which generally have wheels larger than 160 mm (=6.3"). 170 mm (=6.7") is a pretty typical minimum diameter in Europe, and, as you can see, Alden and Cali are pretty darn close to that number. (Smaller than 170 mm for Western repertoire as a smaller wheel imposes different rhythmic limitations on the dog. It cuts both ways: playing Hungarian music on a large wheel is hard.) So unless you want to build a Central-/Eastern-European instrument or a historic instrument, 178 mm is about a perfect size. Some makers will go larger than that for more complex instruments, but since the goal is to create a reference instrument, there would be no reason to have 12 strings or something like that and the 7"/178 mm wheel is good choice, especially if you want to talk about measurements for other parts where OMI instruments might be used as exemplars. Best, -Arle On Nov 5, 2011, at 23:01 , Alden and Cali wrote: > Our "standard" HG wheel is 7" diameter. > > Alden -- 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.
