Building a hurdy-gurdy

[Jim McConkey]

The overall concept is pretty simple. Think violin, with the hand-cranked wheel as a continuous "bow" to drive them. The tangents or keys simply serve to "fret" the strings at the same places a violin player would put their fingers. Add a couple sympathetic strings for artificial reverb, and that's about it. It just takes a lot of parts to do all that. I'm hoping try try my hand at one someday...

[Randy Cordle]

It would be remiss not to make mention of the Chein (sp?) or "dog" bridge. I seem to remember back when I was delving into HG that many think the buzzing bridge is one of the most important concepts that differentiates the HG from many other wheeled instruments. The rhythmic tapping made by "pulsing" the handle is an important concept to advanced players and is often heard when you listen to HG recordings.

[Barry Black]

The next 'dog' I make I'm going to paint red. I spent about two hours yesterday carving a nice one out of rock maple. They are hard to make, mainly because they are roughly 3/4" by 3/4" by 3/8" outside dimensions and hard to hold. Anyway then I put it 'somewhere safe'.
Tomorrow I'll start another I guess......

[Yuri Terenyi]

Barry, I hope that one works. There might be a problem, though .
Before entering into it, a brief description of how a dog works. The friction of the wheel drags the string up, as the dog is not secured to the soundboard. Now, when the down pressure of the string becomes larger than the up-pressure of the friction, the string springs back, slamming the dog against the soundboard.
From this follows that the string should be sort of riding in a slot that is angled towards the centreline, and downwards. Kind of 45degrees or so. (I'm not really up with the French dogs, so it's only the idea, not the details.) The way you carved the dog, I suspect that the string might just lift out of the slot, without dragging the dog with it. I hope I'm wrong, but if that's what happens, you know what to do differently on the next one.

[Charlie Schultz]

Ah, thanks Yuri. I see I've made the same mistake- and in my case, the drawing does even show a slight "hook" in the string slot.

[Barry Black]

Thanks for the tip Yuri. As I mentioned earlier, the drawing I have gives minimal detail for the dog or the slot it fits in. Also no mention of a notch for the string to ride in. I made that one just to locate the string. It looks as if I need to leave more meat below that notch and cut a curved slot to retain the string more securely. Is that what you mean?
I am also concerned about the back part that rides in a slot in the bridge. In my drawing it looks like the slot is not parallel but rather triangular but the part of the dog that fits in, looks to be a parallel tongue. I don't have proper strings yet so I am just getting things positioned by using fishing line, and double sided tape under the bridges which doesn't hold firmly enough to be able to crank the wheel and simulate an instrument. I will be able to test it better when I figure out where to glue down the bridges.

[Yuri Terenyi]

You need part of the dog's body hooking above the string. That is, a longer notch slanting towards south-east.
You also need to realise that the distance of the point where the string sits in its notch from the bridge (the one that has the slot for the dog) has to be absolutely exact. The string must only just touch the wheel, not bending back, with more pressure, nor floating above, in which case it won't sound at all, of course. The most straightforward way to do it is to leave some wood at the point where the sliver that goes into the slot begins at the toe of the dog; cut the slanting slot for the string, so when you test it, the string is floating, not touching the wheel yet, then carve away the wood at the toe point, until the dog shifts slowly into the right position.
The actual shape of the sliver slotting into the stationary bridge is not actually important. The job it needs to do is to be able to rock up and down, so some clearance at the bottom and the top is essential, otherwise it's just a loose fit inside the slot, and of course the slot being smooth sided.
Sorry if it's not exactly crystal clear, but there simply don't seem to be technical names for all these bits and pieces.

[Barry Black]

Yuri, here is a picture of the bridge with the slot for the dog to locate in. As you can see, it is triangular in cross section. The tail of the dog fits loosely into it. Today I had it kinda of working using fishing line which just kissed the wheel. I did get it vibrating for a second or two on a couple of occasions before I was down on my knees looking for the thing. I can see now how the slot for the string needs to be I think. I'll carve a new one with more meat to accomodate a 'retaining' kind of slot as soon as we get the proper strings and I know how fat it needs to be.

[Yuri Terenyi]

Hmmm...
That slot should be parallel sided. But, don't worry too much, the one there will work. (very probably) The dogs tend to find their own spot, pushing at the toe point against the bridge , and don't really like to move from there much.

[Barry Black]

Maybe I'll glue in some pieces to allow me to make it parallel. Maybe the one in my 'measured drawing' was just worn like that. With it the way it is, I can see now that there is no way that the distance to the wheel will remain the same, and I assume that is important.

[Barry Black]

Charlie, where are you at with you hg now? I'm looking forward to hearing how you plan to finish it.

[Charlie Schultz]

It is finished (shellac) except for testing. Unfortunately I broke my leg Sunday and that is slowing me down- difficult to get to the shop in the basement.

[Barry Black]

Ouch!
Sorry to hear that and hope it mends fast.

[Barry Black]

How many coats of shellac would be normal for this kind of thing?
Do you make up the shellac yourself or is it a ready made product?
I have zero experience with the stuff except for reading the advertisements for it in the woodworking catalogs.

[Bob Gramann]

Ooh! I hope the pain is gone and that you heal rapidly.

[Yuri Terenyi]

How many coats of shellac would be normal for this kind of thing?
Do you make up the shellac yourself or is it a ready made product?
I have zero experience with the stuff except for reading the advertisements for it in the woodworking catalogs.

Barry, shellac is a product derived from some bugs somewhere in India, as far as I remember. It comes in kind of flakes, golden yellow in colour. What you do is dissolve them in alcohol. I prefer ethyl alcohol myself, since I do not fancy getting pissed on meths. Most people, however, use meths, and still do not go blind.
The number of coats, well, it's really up to you. From just a few coats so you can say it's there, to top grade French polishing the variation is infinite. I suggest you look up some info on Google, I'm sure there is heaps of it available.

[Charlie Schultz]

Barry, I probably put 3 or 4 "coats" on (shellac coats "melt" into each other). And yes, I make my shellac from flakes. I used ~ a 2 pound cut and sanded after the first coat. Then I applied 2-3 more coats, sanded the final coat with 400 and 800 grit paper and then used coarse/medium/fine polishing compounds.

Note that I used sycamore for most everything so did not have to pore fill.

[Barry Black]

How many coats of shellac would be normal for this kind of thing?
Do you make up the shellac yourself or is it a ready made product?
I have zero experience with the stuff except for reading the advertisements for it in the woodworking catalogs.

Barry, shellac is a product derived from some bugs somewhere in India, as far as I remember. It comes in kind of flakes, golden yellow in colour. What you do is dissolve them in alcohol. I prefer ethyl alcohol myself, since I do not fancy getting pissed on meths. Most people, however, use meths, and still do not go blind.
The number of coats, well, it's really up to you. From just a few coats so you can say it's there, to top grade French polishing the variation is infinite. I suggest you look up some info on Google, I'm sure there is heaps of it available.

Yuri,
I am familiar with french polishing having done a lot of it in my former business but the only time I've heard of it brushed on was as a knot sealer. I've always applied it with a cotton 'rubber'.
You learn something new here every day

[Charlie Schultz]

Well, I've got some mobility back (hope to be out of the walking cast next week), so here are some photos of pretty much the finished instrument. The bridges need a bit of tweaking and I need to add a little felt or something on the inside of the keybox.

[Bob Gramann]

That's impressive. How does it sound?