Hi, Jake,
Well, I would have bought "more" gurdy myself right off the bat but I
didn't have any idea what was available and took the only referral I
could get- which turned out just fine. I've been very happy with my
Volksgurdy for about 20 years now. I have out-grown it in some ways
and am seriously looking forward to my new one (with lots of bells and
whistles!) but I doubt I could have done better at the time for the
money. It has been amazingly stable and easy to keep in tune, for the
most part, which is not always the case as we all know! Also, I love
the sound of it- it's very clear, bright and yet mellow enough to sing
over, the drones are well balanced against the chanters and though it
doesn't have sympathetics it still has a wonderful ring to it.
Overall, I think I was incredibly fortunate. I have Anna Clemenger to
thank for recommending Hubbert to me and getting me started playing as
well. I doubt I would have had nearly such a good experience as a
beginner player without her help. That's one reason I am nearly always
ready and willing to help others. Got to pass that good karma on.
Skype is free to download. There is only a charge (really cheap!) if
you use it to call someone's land line or cell phone. Skype to Skype
calls are free as are video calls. The only thing needed for video
calls is a camera (obviously) and a fast enough connection that it
doesn't pause a lot.
I'll be heading to the east coast some time in the spring and will be
based in the DC area for about a year, maybe longer depending on how
things go. We'll keep in touch and see if we can't get together.
Felicia.
On Dec 27, 2011, at 6:18 PM, Jake Conte wrote:
Hi Felicia, thank you for your help. I agree that getting a better
instrument to grow into is better than outgrowing one. I knew that
this would probably be my only hurdy gurdy purchase that's why I
wanted to get all the options available. I went with the 3-pickup
amplification system because I figured I wanted the option of
playing acoustically with our duo and electrically with a full
band. I went with geared tuners because I know the problem in
trying to tune with friction pegs. I probably could have gone
without the sympathetic strings or built-in tuner but, by that
point, I had almost all the sha-bang :-)
With Skype, do I need to download a program or subscribe to a
service? I'll check into it.
Let me know when you're in the New Jersey area.
Jake
On Fri, Dec 23, 2011 at 11:25 PM, Felicia Dale <[email protected]
> wrote:
Hm. Well, I'm going to be based in the DC area but traveling up and
down and all around quite a bit over the next year starting in the
spring. I bet we'll be within striking distance of each other at
some point or another. I also really like the idea of Skype. I can
get William (my husband) to aim a camera directly at what I'm doing
re: cottoning and as for tuning we could work that out by talking
and listening.
I'm not bothered by the c/g v d/g tuning. I can either transpose or
play harmonies to whatever you're playing.
And if you do put your gurdy up for sale, let me know, okay? It
sounds like a lovely instrument.
Felicia.
On Dec 22, 2011, at 8:20 PM, Jake Conte wrote:
Felicia, I'm in East Brunswick in central New Jersey. I know there
are some gurdy players in New England, but that would be a 3-6 hour
drive by car.
On Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 11:16 PM, Felicia Dale <[email protected]
> wrote:
Jake, where are you located? Perhaps someone with a bit more
experience could swing a meeting with you and help you out with the
cotton and rosin issues. I would be glad to give it a try if we're
within striking distance of each other.
Felicia.
On Dec 20, 2011, at 6:42 PM, Jake Conte wrote:
Hi Elisabeth and Kevin,
By "high maintenance" I mean the whole cotton issue. Do I put to
much cotton, loo little cotton? Tweaking the tangents. One
player once told me not to worry about whether I put too much or
too little cotton. Eventually I should know how much to put on.
Another roadblock was that I had asked to have it set up in D/G as
I play primarily Celtic music and figured D/G would be better
suited for that.
And, not to dwell on Bruno's comments, but I just wanted to add
that this was going to be my one and only hurdy gurdy purchase and
I wanted to get it with all the 'bells and whistles' and I
wouldn't be able to afford a second gurdy. Now, I'm thinking
maybe I should have bought a more basic model instead. They did
make a "Symphonie" model which was a lot less expensive.
Thank you all for your inspiration. I will definitely make a go
of it and, hopefully, will not be putting it up for sale next year.
Jake
On Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 2:20 PM, Kevin Hughes
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hello Jake,
I'm curious as to what problems you are encountering in learning
to play. You used the phrase high maintenance in two of your
emails. Could you be more specific as what these issues are?
I was once asked to look an Orca from Olympic Instruments. A
friend had borrowed it from another friend(who been give it as a
gift but never played it) and thought that the bridge needed to be
lowered(or the string notches made deeper) and wanted me to look
at it and see what I thought. It turned out that he was trying to
tune the open chanterelle to D and so the string was not making
good contact with the wheel. I looked at the paperwork that came
with the instrument, found the chanterelle should be tuned to G,
tuned it, cottoned the string, did a bit of shimming, and the
instrument played. (This was a couple of years ago and I still
haven't seen the friend play it.) But it seemed like the
instrument was close to being good to go when shipped.
When starting out the cottoning and related shimming is the first
hurdle to overcome. Neil Brook has a youtube video that is
helpful for this. Next is getting used to turning the crank and
playing notes. The Muskett book is good for this as are Neil
Brook's DVD tutorials. Aftre that work in trompette technique.
Scott Gayman has a great series of youtube videos on this. And as
with any instrument consistent practice yields best results.
You will of course have to replace the cotton from time to time.
A tangent or two may shift and need to be realigned. There could
be other issues that arise, however once the instrument is set up
it doesn't seem to me to need constant tweaking. Other folks may
have other experiences.
I wish you well in your endeavors.
Kevin
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
