[HG-new] Henri 111 hurdy gurdy plans now finished

[Graeme McCormack]

Hi everybody,

 I have finished drawing up my interpretation of the Henri 111 Renaissance hurdy gurdy. I have drawn them up on 7 sheets of A1. I will now hopefully find time to start building it. Feel free to download, printout the plan and build one yourself.

Happy building 

Here is the link to the plans

https://sites.google.com/site/mccormackgraeme/henri-111-hurdy-gurdy

Graeme

email: mccormac...@gmail.com

web:www.mccormack.graeme.googlepages.com/antiquatedstrings

[Kazimierz Verkmastare]

Very nice, I especially like the chanter lifter mechanism dimensions and travel.

 

Are the steel pins on your tangent just press fit, or are they soldered or swaged or threaded?

 

I am studying the plans dilligently, and will probably have a few more questions later.

 

Nice job

 

Chris

[Graeme McCormack]

Hi Chris - The steel pins are silver soldered through the brass base of the tangents. I will probably buy some from hurdy gurdy crafters for this gurdy build, as they cost me just about as much to make them from scratch. And it isn't my most favourite part of the hurdy gurdy making process.

I'm also going to add some info on stringing as well as drawing up a body mould for keeping the body in shape while making.

Cheers

Graeme

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "hurdygurdy" group.
To post to this group, send email to hurdy...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
hurdygurdy+...@googlegroups.com
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.

--
Graeme Mccormack
1056 Halls Track Road
Pelverata, TAS 7150
ph: 0362663598, MOB: 0429663598
email: mccormac...@gmail.com
work email: g.h.mc...@utas.edu.au
web:www.mccormack.graeme.googlepages.com/antiquatedstrings

[Graeme McCormack]

 Hi all - I have now been through the plan sheets and fixed up as many little drawing and conceptual faults as I could find. There is also an extra 2 sheets now. One showing the body mould and the other showing the template for how to build the body with solid end pieces. I have added an adjustable dog bridge (the same as I used on "Jiri"). So the pdf files can be downloaded if you go to the bottom of the page 

https://sites.google.com/site/mccormackgraeme/henri-111-hurdy-gurdy

and click on the "Henri" pdf files. Let me know if anyone has trouble opening them and I can email different file formats through. 

Cheers

Graeme

[Kazimierz Verkmastare]

Thanks Graeme

 

Just so y'all know, I am working (have been for a couple of years now, but haven't been quite sure of some of the details till now) on a design for a gurdy based on a small picture of a faun or satyr from a 1526 painting by Jacob Cornelisz Van Oostsanen called "Saul and the Witch of Endor"

 

This is a simple gurdy, with an interesting overall shape and a form I believe would be most suitable to an early corpus-built (hollowed out of one single piece of wood).  It has a decent size and I think will make a fine travel instrument, as well as being demonstrably medieval (when you do medieval recreations, at least a basic adherance to something documentable is nice.

 

Here is a detail picture - I hope it doesn't get stripped out, but if it does, www.nogy.net/images/satyr.jpg will get it for you

 

 

I will be drawing the instrument in 2 forms - the entirely period (to the best of my understanding and ability, we are after all about 30 years after the first artistic representation of which I am aware of a gurdy with a tirant pin, so this can be a 'complete' gurdy, but most likely only a limited single row of keys, quite possibly not even a complete diatonic scale.  And a more modern mechanically version with chromatic keying, adjustable tangents, lifters and such.  I will be building both, but likely the fully keyed version first.

 

I have been using my old faithful experimenter's hack sinphone to try out many of the bridge, tangent, wheel and nut ideas I have seen on so many instruments.  It is nice to have built a basic box without ornament or flourish, with a floating (replaceable) soundboard, that I don't feel bad about drilling new holes in the sides, breaking off and gluing on bridges and nuts, adding different heads to test different configurations, all that sort of stuff.  While it may seem sacrilege to some, I learn best with a tablespoon of theory and a gallon of experiment, and this 'hack' has served me well, even as far as being the instrument I take to schools and other 'kid-centric' events because I don't really mind if someone accidentally messes it all up.  Guess there is a benefit to being a builder, albeit not yet extremely confident in the gurdy arena.

 

Graeme, I hope you don't mind, but there are some really neat bits in your design that I would love to steal for this one - I have tried some of your bits and pieces on the sinphone and am convinced that they are the way to go.

 

I am going to start building this gurdy after the weekend, I have (fingers crossed, there is a possible derail in the near future that can mess up the works, but it is less than 50% possible) a weekend trip to Texas to visit a friend and see him and his group perform some very period music in a very amazing acoustic environment.  I will be drawing as I build, so as to include all the things that really work, rather than just my hopeful inventions.

 

I will start to document this project from the acquisition of the wood - I have a beautiful 7 foot x 14 inch x 16/4 air dried black walnut timber waiting for me to start, and while it might make a bit of a squat body, I think with some careful work it should come out fine.  At least I hope. If not, I will have learned something, all I will have lost is some time and some wood, and that is a cheap price for knowledge.

 

This is going to be the first in what I hope to be a line of medieval performer's vielles, there are lots of paintings and drawings of unique little instruments from the late 1400s to the mid 1500s to create from, and since my little hobby industry - Instruments of Antiquity (.com if you care to visit, it's not completely done but it's getting there) focuses (mainly) in instruments from before 1600, this is the direction I am hoping to take the gurdy building as well.

 

I am going to be asking a LOT of questions of both builders and players in the near future, and all sorts of recommendations for various details, I hope I will not become too annoying.

 

Well, back to it, I guess

 

Chris

 

[Graeme McCormack]

Hi Chris - Looks like a great gurdy project. By all means use any of my drawings to help you build your project. Thats why I put my time into drawing the plans. If I can help one more gurdy get born, then it makes all that time more than worth it. I recon that little gurdy need reviving. Will it be the "Saul gurdy" or the "Witch of Endor gurdy"? Great painting.

Keep me posted on your progress.

Cheers

Graeme

[Kazimierz Verkmastare]

I wouldn't have thought of it otherwise as I don't usually name my instruments, except the name of the painting struck a chord with me, being probably the world's most avid Star Wars fan in the 70s and 80s.  So a little gurdy, played by little furry creatures, (like the Ewok of Endor) just came to mind.

 

I decided early that it would be called the Endor gurdy.  Normally I would just name it after the painter, but the Van Oostsanen gurdy just seemed a bit, well, not right for this one.

 

But now, if I introduce it regularly enough as an Endor gurdy, maybe I'll start getting Ewok jokes instead of monkey jokes...

 

Chris

[Billy Horne]

Hi Chris,
 sorry to seem to be a damper, would (wood ) that " I have a beautiful 7 foot x 14 inch x 16/4 air dried black walnut timber waiting for me to start" be put to a better use,and try some other less precious timber.

Sorry Billy Horne

--

[Kazimierz Verkmastare]

What better use than making it live again as an instrument?

 

If it is the fact that this is a new design and not guaranteed that is of concern, I can assure you it is a very traditional layout, and while I may have to do some work on the keybox or the bridges or tangents or other things, I am quite certain that I will be able to get the body spot on first time.

 

I had this timber custom cut many years ago for just this project, from an old tree that was removed before it fell, and I can't particularly see any other use that would be markedly better than this one.  The timber itself is my own personal natural egg-timer, I knew I would have to lock down the design by the time the wood was ready, and that is why the design is just now finished, because the wood is just now ready.

 

Now, because of the issues with obtaining it in this size, if it was box elder instead I would be using it for citole and gittern and would find something else to build the gurdy from.  But I have a significant source of walnut, so it is not perhaps in my circumstances as precious as it might be to some.

 

Most important, this will produce an item that gives much enjoyment in the making and in the continued ownership and playing, which to me is the most important thing of all

 

Chris

 

> Hi Chris,

> sorry to seem to be a damper, would (wood ) that " I have a

> beautiful 7 foot x 14 inch x 16/4

> air dried black walnut timber waiting for me to start" be put to a

> better use,and try some other less precious timber.

>

> Sorry Billy Horne

>

> On 22 February 2012 07:59, Kazimierz Verkmastare <k...@nogy.net>

> wrote:

>

>> Thanks Graeme

>>

> Just so y'all know, I am working (have been for a couple of years

> now, but haven't been quite sure of some of the details till now)

> on a design for a gurdy based on a small picture of a faun or satyr

> from a 1526 painting by Jacob Cornelisz Van Oostsanen called "Saul

> and the Witch of Endor"

>

>>

> This is a simple gurdy, with an interesting overall shape and a

> form I believe would be most suitable to an early corpus-built

> (hollowed out of one single piece of wood).  It has a decent size

> and I think will make a fine travel instrument, as well as being

> demonstrably medieval (when you do medieval recreations, at least a

> basic adherance to something documentable is nice.

>

>>

> Here is a detail picture - I hope it doesn't get stripped out, but

> if it does, www.nogy.net/images/satyr.jpg will get it for you

>>

>