My Gurdies

This page is a showcase of all the gurdies I own(ed). Currently I only have two, but of course I would love to own more. Since gurdies are very expensive, don't expect this page to be updated often :) Of course, a boy can dream, so I will also add gurdies that I would want to own someday!

Galdrshop Fairygurdy

Ah, my first 'Gurdy'! After deciding I wanted to start playing the hurdy gurdy, I did a quick and dirty search on the web, and landed on this infamous etsy 'gurdy' seller. I'm calling it a 'gurdy' because it really isn't one. It's what's been lovingly dubbed a "Hurdy Gurdy Shaped Object" (HGSO) by the Hurdy Gurdy community. I was foolish and impatient, and it looked oh so pretty. I was super happy when it arrived and I quickly started learning how to play it by myself. I even bought a pretty guitar strap for it! My joy was pretty short-lived though. It's sadly little more than a pretty plywood prop that doesn't produce an enjoyable sound.

What's wrong with it, you ask? Well, to answer this, we need to take a closer look at the components. The first glaring issue are the strings. The strings on this model are wound steel guitar strings. More made for plucking than bowing, the sound they make in a gurdy is not very smooth. Next, there's the tuning pegs. These are wooden pegs only held by the friction of the wood. Sadly, this was not strong enough to keep the strings in tune. I replaced them with mechanical ones which kept them in tune, but overall it didn't have much of an effect on playability.

Another issue is the keys. In general, the keys of your gurdy should sit snugly in the keybox. In this case, they rattle and move around quite a bit. As you might expect, this causes them to have a less specific placement on the string. Of course, placement of the keys is very important to your keys being in tune. To fix this problem, gurdies have individually tunable pegs on the keys, called tangents. This model has none. So, perfect tuning is impossible. Another issue I found important is the size of the wheel. Since the wheel is quite small, you need to crank faster to get an acceptable sound, which means more strain on your arm in the long run. There are more issues, such a string pressure, replacing the strings, loose parts etc., but I'll spare you the details... This one will probably not be played again.

Gurdy by Jaak de Vuyst

After the big disappointment of getting an Etsy 'Gurdy', I went looking around on several websites to find a real one. Preferably secondhand, so there would not be any waitlists. (New gurdies are notorious for their long waiting lists and high prices). First I tried facebook, with not a lot of luck. Then, I thought "why not try our national web marketplace?". This proved a pretty good idea, since there were multiple people listing all sorts of Gurdies! Who would have thought! Among them was a restorer who was selling three different gurdies. The cheapest, a lovely model by Luthier Jaak de Vuyst, looked just like my dream. From my (little) experience with gurdies, I knew I preferred a bigger model, that might be capable of handling a lower octave string. I'm very partial to a slower and deeper sound, over quick higher pitched songs. A longer scale gurdy would be perfect for this. So, I shot them a message, and ended up traveling 8 hours back and forth to get this lovely thing.

Getting this gurdy proved to be a great decision, as it propelled me forward into learning how to play the Gurdy. It has a lovely sound, and is very playable. The restorer added some knick knacks, such as adding capos to the drone and trompette strings, so they can be tuned as needed. Another added gadget are pegs which can hold different keys in a pressed position, also allowing the chanter strings to be tuned according to my needs. All in all, a huge upgrade from the previous model I have. After playing it for a couple months, I also decided to change one of the chanter strings for one in a lower octave. Since there are not standard gurdies, and there are also no strings made specifically for gurdies, this proved quite difficult. In the end, I ended up snapping a few strings that were too small for this model. Right now, I have a 1/8 cello string, which seems all right. In the future, I'd like to experiment with more strings, but for now this will do.

Grizzly Hills theme from WoW