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Upright Basses
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| Hurdy-Gurdies
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At the late stage of our luthiery studies we decided to build something a bit more difficult than before. We thought that the medieval hurdy-gurdy (vielle à roue, drehleier, ghironda, zanfona, vevlira...) would be a great challenge, and it sure was! It was quite difficult to find detailed information and instructions, not to mention usable drawings. So our two hurdy-gurdies have features gathered from various sources, and are completed with our own solutions and design. Against this background we think that the project was very successful.
You can hear how my hurdy-gurdy (the left one in the picture below) sounds if you go to the Music page and listen to the solo part and fade-out of the piece "Fairytale".
At the late stage of our luthiery studies we decided to build something a bit more difficult than before. We thought that the medieval hurdy-gurdy (vielle à roue, drehleier, ghironda, zanfona, vevlira...) would be a great challenge, and it sure was! It was quite difficult to find detailed information and instructions, not to mention usable drawings. So our two hurdy-gurdies have features gathered from various sources, and are completed with our own solutions and design. Against this background we think that the project was very successful.
You can hear how my hurdy-gurdy (the left one in the picture below) sounds if you go to the Music page and listen to the solo part and fade-out of the piece "Fairytale".
The principle of a
hurdy-gurdy is based on a
wooden wheel that the player turns around using the crank. The wheel
rubs against the strings making them vibrate and produce the
charasteristic bagpipe-like sound. Hurdy-gurdies have usually one or
more melody strings (in this case two) and several drone strings (in
this case four). The melody strings run through a wooden box and are
stopped by the player using a kind of key mechanism.
Below left you can see Heidi's hurdy-gurdy with the wheel cover removed, revealing the wheel made of six sectors of beechwood.
Below right is Heidi's hurdy-gurdy with the keybox lid open, revealing the whole key mechanism. The small wooden pegs (or "tangents") that stop the strings can be adjusted sideways to fine tune every interval.
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Below left you can see Heidi's hurdy-gurdy with the wheel cover removed, revealing the wheel made of six sectors of beechwood.
Below right is Heidi's hurdy-gurdy with the keybox lid open, revealing the whole key mechanism. The small wooden pegs (or "tangents") that stop the strings can be adjusted sideways to fine tune every interval.
The peghead of a
hurdy-gurdy has
traditionally been decorated with a carved human head figure. Typically
the figure has been a portrait of some noble person or character, but
we wanted to do something different...
Below left is the head of my hurdy-gurdy. Don't laugh, I believe you would look the same if you should live your life stuck on an instrument like this!
Below right is the head of Heidi's hurdy-gurdy. No, it is not inspired by "The Scream". Or if it is, then let it be Edvard Munch's Scream, but surely not Wes Craven's one. Neither of us had seen the movie by the time Heidi outlined and finished the wooden figure.
Below left is the head of my hurdy-gurdy. Don't laugh, I believe you would look the same if you should live your life stuck on an instrument like this!
Below right is the head of Heidi's hurdy-gurdy. No, it is not inspired by "The Scream". Or if it is, then let it be Edvard Munch's Scream, but surely not Wes Craven's one. Neither of us had seen the movie by the time Heidi outlined and finished the wooden figure.
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