Gye Greene's Thoughts

Gye Greene's Thoughts (w/ apologies to The Smithereens and their similarly-titled album!)

Friday, June 15, 2012

Yet another instrument to get

I've wanted a hurdy gurdy since I was about 20 and saw them at a Highlands Games festival, or some-such.

Basically:  a hurdy gurdy is a wooden case with tuned strings (some fingered, some drones), a hand-cranked wheel that ''bows'' the strings, and some buttons that you use to ''stop'' the strings.  Kind of a hybrid of a Highland ''great pipes'' bagpipe, and a violin.

Here's an example:




And another:




You get a peek at the inside in this one, at about 0:35 and 0:40:





One of the things I like about hurdy gurdies is that, because of the drone strings, you get a bagpipe-y sound.  Like this:




With a bit of time, I bet I could build one.  I'll add it to my list...


--GG

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