Hurdy-Gurdy Construction |
See photos of some of the hurdy-gurdies I've made...
| As one might imagine, building a hurdy-gurdy is a complex undertaking. There are many options when it comes to hurdy-gurdy design and decoration. There are various body styles generally associated with different eras; of traditional designs, the later French styles, such as a guitar- or lute-bodies, are most common. These are primarily what I have been working on. Generally, the lute body has a richer sound quality, but is much more difficult to build. |
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The appearance of the instrument, including choice of wood (which affects sound qualities as well) and decorative options, can be a very subjective and personal thing. There can be traditional looking or non-traditional looking inlay and purfling, or none at all. Friction pegs for tuning are nice looking, but frustrating. Modern mechanical tuners look less traditional (sometimes not at all traditional!), but make the instrument much easier to tune and keep in tune. |
