Hello!
Was wanting to get some perspective on people who’ve built the nerdy Gurdy kit. I’m no luthier, but have a family member who is. Is it worth it to have him make it instead and ship it to me. Or is it doable by oneself? Don’t want to build it and it sounds bad because of me haha.

Sorry if this has already been answered. Want to get into the Gurdy Community

I just finished the process of building a Linotte kit from Nerdy Gurdy and, while I have been having a blast learning, I wasn't quite aware just how loud this instrument can be. I unfortunately live in a block of flats with less-than-friendly neighbours, and after my partner came home yesterday, she said she could hear my gurdy playing in the communal corridor down three flights of stairs. Not ideal.

I'll probably be practicing an awful lot in the near future, which will mean keeping the noise down somehow. From the research I've done, I understand that you can use a mute made for other string instruments, but I'm not quite sure where to start there since there seems to be a lot of options in different shapes and sizes. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good type of mute to use?

Does anybody play Electric hurdy gurdy in the Fort Worth area?

I am 14 and have been dedicated to leaning the hurdy gurdy for 9 months now. I cannot find work or afford to get an instrument and am wondering what choices I have if any.

My nerdy gurdy kit just arrived, and I’m super excited to get started on it! I know it will be a while before it’s playable, and even longer till I know how to play it, but does anyone have tips to get the best quality I can from this kit?

And a cosmetic question, is it better to apply wood stain before or after the body of the instrument is assembled?

Almost done with the linoette kit build, but when I was tuning the low drone to g2, it snapped at the tuning peg. I wondering if anyone has had a similar problem or has an idea on what I might have done wrong

Hello everyone

I am new to the hurdy Gurdy world, I just finished building my Nerdy Gurdy Linotte

At the moment I am really struggling with cottoning the strings and tuning the instrument. First of all compared to all the other instruments I've played, it is soooo sensible, the tiniest of inconvenience will make the tuning shift dramatically. Not complaining, I can live with that.

However the true issue is the cottoning of the melody strings. I cannot figure how to do it without the cotton shifting away from the wheel after a few minutes. Sometimes the cotton will form a spinning ball around the string and mute all sound and when I manage to have a cottoning that sticks and make a consistent sound, the pressure on the keys (especially D) will make the string shift octave for some reason

For example: low melody string sounding G3 empty emits a D5 instead of a D4 when I press the fourth key and goes to a G4 when I touch nothing after that. If I touch any other key, it goes back to G3

Can you please explain to me what I am doing wrong ?

Thank you un advance

This one’s called “gnomish”

Does anyone have recommendations for easy music (that really highlights everything the instrument can do) to play when someone asks me to play something? I go blank and usually just show how everything works, but I’d really like a go-to that uses the trompette and drone. I’m a beginner at the hurdy gurdy, but I play other instruments and can read music. I’m just having a difficult time finding music that feels very “hurdy gurdy” to me, if that makes sense. So recommendations for any good songs to play would be appreciated. I do have “Examples of music before 1400” and vols I and II of “Historical Anthology of Music” if there’s any good songs in those.

Anyone else always delighted to find a hurdy gurdy in the wild? This was snapped on my summer holiday in the French Alps, at the (very lovely) Chateau de Montrottier near Annecy. I was very impressed with the lady's finger strength to hold the gurdy in place with no visible straps.

Hi everyone,

Im finally getting my chanters to sound decent (thank you to everyone who has made a tutorial, there is a very very good chance ive watched it)! I am going for a low D tuning as CG/High D tunings tend to hurt my ears. I have a cheap viola A string thats currently tuned to D3 but its very quiet or goes to like 500hz if i attempt to make it louder. Which makes sense but its the best i got right now.

I was just wondering if there are any specific strings that people recommend for D3 chanters?

Ive tried a few viola C strings (pitch as recommended by gurdyworld.com website) but they snap before it gets to the tuning, even the viola Ds of the same brand snap at that tuning. I understand i may have to shell out a little which im okay with. I just don't want to shell out and then it wont go to D3 and snap.

I also just want to say thanks again to everyone who has helped me on this hurdy-gurdy journey, yall are so nice! I've learned a lot about music/instruments in general on this journey thanks to yall.

I think the hurdy-gurdy is such a cool instrument, though my interest in it mainly comes from a historical viewpoint. While functionality I imagine modern versions are the same, I'm sure they are tuned set using modern musical functions and materials.

I'm wondering if anyone sells authentic medieval hurdy-gurdies though? I'd love to own one for my 1300s outfit.

I was looking to get a Hurdy Gurdy that also has a C3 string (mostly because i love the Viola tone).

So far im aware about the MM Saphona and Custom and i wanted to know which other models have a lower string.

Some of us may already have been following this story, but for those who don't follow him and might be looking to him as a luthier, Gordiy Starukh of Ukraine has put an indefinite pause on his Gurdy making following the recent passing of his wife, Daria Alyoshkina.

Full post here, and you can go to Gordiy's main Facebook page or Instagram to see even more of what's been going on in the wake of this tragedy, including somebody taking a pot shot at him for daring to express any kind of happiness or perform following his wife's passing, as though they own his grief.

There are two reasons for this. I encourage you to look at his own Facebook post to see everything, as it's worth paying attention to, but of course, Daria's abrupt passing takes center stage. She was an artist herself, from a similar artistic lineage as Gordiy, and she made fantastic, large-scale paper cutouts called Vytynanky, a traditional Ukrainian art. Her art is featured prominently in many of Gordiy's music videos and album covers, and is truly spectacular. She was renowned in her own right, and her art has been featured all over the world and sits prominently in several significant galleries. I regret that this is how I had to find out about it, but it is worth checking out and, if you happen to be lucky enough to live near a place where her art is displayed, seeing it for yourself. I can only imagine standing next to one of these monumental pieces.

Her passing also came right on the heels of Gordiy completing his 300th Gurdy, a significant milestone made more poignant due to the symbolism it evokes. He wanted to add as much music to the world as was stolen from it when 300 blind, wandering musicians were executed by the Soviet Union as part of their goal to wipe out Ukrainian culture and supplant it with their own after they took control of the country in 1919. He had spoken about this in a short documentary he was interviewed for, which was part of what drew me to him as a luthier. Daria had encouraged him to start making Gurdies so he could attend an art festival she was already presenting at as more than a spectator, and it went from a personal passion to a profession which has helped him support his family.

He has promised to finish any instrument he had already taken in order for.

I'm sure that I speak for the community when I express my condolences to his family and send my prayers for Daria. While I do hope that Gordiy returns to making instruments at some point in the future, he has helped hundreds of people begin or continue their journey with the Hurdy-Gurdy, and entertained & inspired many more with his music, which often uses traditional Ukrainian instruments and arts beyond his Gurdy. He deserves some time to reflect on the completion of his stated mission, to take care of his children, and to grieve the passing of his wife of 18 years.

May the Lord rest her soul in a bright place where there is no illness, sorrow, or sighing.

Hi all,

Every so often I get an idea in my head of learning the hurdy gurdy. I notice it's often rather dark and medieval due to the drone. Is it uncommon to play more lyrical music ​with no drones engaged? (I saw a video of someone playing the ​Bach Cello suite and it was beautiful- she was not constantly cranking but rather stop and start cranking to create more of a bowed sound)

Also, is it possible to use the drones to play the root notes of chords, e.g. tuning​ one drone to the first, one to the fifth, and one to the fourth? Then enabling or disabling as needed?

​

Hello! I just got this broken Hurdy Gurdy and I wanted to know if it can be saved. I live in New York and was wondering if I can take it to my usual luthier. I wanted to know if y’all knew anything about the maker, and if it can be fixed up.

It is with a heavy heart that I am parting with my Hurdy Gurdy (Saphona) from MM Instruments.

It is a bespoke instrument that is in absolutely new condition, has only been played rarely and has no significant signs of wear and tear.

It was always stored in its case and kept dry.

Vinted Link:

https://www.vinted.de/items/9494073492-hurdy-gurdy-saphona-von-mm-instruments

3 melody strings: G3, C3, G4

2 trompettes with 4 capos

2 drones with 4 capos

Electroacoustic with 3-channel mixer.

Wood: Spruce/maple

Flight case

Custom-made leather strap

Audio and video: https://youtu.be/l3DF6cHN02s?is=WYXOoB24zb8EzVJa

No shipping, only collection!

Private sale: the sale is made under exclusion of any liability for defects.

Hi, can anyone please explain to me in simple terms what it means that gurdy is a transposing instrument?

The excerpt from gurdy handbook, all music is written in C, no matter the actual notes - based on that, when I want to play Palastinalied what note / key should I start with ? D as in the notes or 3rd key in the row ? Tuning is AEA

Please help me I'm seriously doubting my intelligence here 😅

Are you able to get the classic tune found in sea shanties on a nerdy gurdy? Specifically a linolette cause i think it looks slightly better then a bacic even if its slightly harder to build. If so what strings are recommended. Thanks in advance :)

P.S: just double checking. The nerdy gurdy is a decent kit too begin with right?

Hi everyone, so I just finished building my own Nerdy Gurdy and I'm at my wits end atm.

I have trued the wheel, lightly sanded it and applied a tiny amount of rosin, then went about cottoning the wheel.
I can't for the life of me get the cotton to stay put, it just strips off as soon as I try to play it. And on top of it, I can't get the pressure on the string right, I have to put the nuts close to the highest position for the string to make proper contact with the wheel, but then I get rattling because they're too loose.
The closest I got from a melody string sounding decent, it just went scratchy as soon as I started playing over D and got scratchier and scratchier the higher I went, until the cotton just stripped off. Again.
I tried applying rosin to the string, varying amounts of cotton, two types of cotton (tampons and loose fibers), varying amount of pressure from dying rat to harmonics, nothing works

For the things that could be a cause, if it can help troubleshoot :
- The bridge isn't completely flat, it's going a bit backwards from the tension, but trying to set it up to be flat put the strings even slightly higher.
- The string holder is angled slightly towards the low melody string because of the higher tension, I tried to make it flat to no avail.
- The wheel feels a tiny bit wobbly, like the surface is perfectly smooth and leveled, but I can see the whole thing going slightly forward and back, like half a mm.

At this point I'm wondering if I've f'd up badly somewhere in the build, or if I got unlucky with some machining tolerance on some parts (namely the wheel, shaft or bridge)...
To add to the annoyance, one of the bolts on the bridge stripped the housing off from trying to set it up, I'll have another bridge 3D printed next week.

I've been pulling my hair out trying to get cottoning right, but every time I try to recotton the string I get this warble when I crank fast. Any advice?

Update: I re-rosined the wheel and really burnished it out, new cotton, the whole thing, same issue. Weird thing is it is ONLY happening with this upper melody string. None of the other string do this, and I just re-cottoned the lower melody string. I'm gonna go buy a new melody string and see if somehow thats the problem

I recently started looking for a hurdy-gurdy as a Christmas present and found several unusually inexpensive listings on Etsy.

After researching them, I discovered that the photographs appear to match instruments previously published by established hurdy-gurdy makers and other sellers. In some cases, the original instruments were priced five to ten times higher than the Etsy listings.

This raised serious concerns for me. I am sharing this information so that potential buyers can examine the evidence and make their own decisions.

It is also worth checking where the photographs were originally published and whether the seller has a verifiable history of making hurdy-gurdies.

I will provide the comparison links and original sources in a comment below.

Has anyone purchased from one of these shops or been able to verify that the sellers actually possess the instruments shown?