Build A Hurd y Two years ago, Bart Brush wrote an ar- ticle about the Hurdy-rdy for Sing Out magazine. In it he explained the work- ings of the instrument, and has since received many letters requesti further infoation and plans. The information in t�is article and the drawings which accompany it will show you how to build a Hurdy-Gurdy. If you do not wish to work from these scale drawings, Bart has a detailed set of plans and awings for a medieval-type Hurdy-Gurdy; they cost $5.00 per set. He also has detailed pictures and drings for the Hurdy-Gur- dy pictured in H. Bosch's painti , "r- den of Earthly Delights". These plans consist of dri s 18" x 24", in half scale, with all details and measurements, and instructions for step-by-step assem- bly. The price is $5.00 for each set of plans, ppd. Send : Bart Brush, Box 546, Cooperstown, NY 13326. This article will explain the basics of the construction of a Medieval type Hurdy-Gurdy, giving the essential mea- surements and procedures. It should be remembered that the Hurdy-Gurdy is not a hightly evolved instrument like the violin, for example, and therefore there is no one superior shape or form. In fact, even the important measure- ments of wheel diameter and string length which I have given, can be changed; these are just the particular ones I have found most satisfactory. Drawing #2 shows that the 5" diameter wheel is centered¼" below the under- side of the top. The size and posi- tion of thw wheel also deteine where the three strings will lie. The keys, flags, and keybox sides and top must be placed so that they do not interfere with the strings, and this is shown in the superimposition. The flag and key assembly corresponds to a fret on a guitar, or a mechanical finger on the left hand of a violinist. The flag is a friction fit in a hole in the key, so that it can be swiveled to change the exact place at which it hits the melody string, and thus tune the note it makes. The key is ½" square and 5" long. In playing, the left hand sits on top of the keybox, and the fingers dangle over, working the keys on the end that sticks through the right hand side of the key- box, in drawing #2. A series of square holes are cut in this side, slightly 17 Gurd y by Bart Brush larger than the½" square keys, thus allowing them to slide freely. As in- dicated, they need be pushed only¼" to contact the string. When playing, the instrument is tilted, and the keys fall back by gravity. The stop, shown in the drawing, allows the keys to fall back only far enough to keep from damp- ing out the vibrating string. The left hand side of the keybox in drawing #2 has round holes, and this end of the key is whittled or tued down to fit. This is done because it is easier to make one end of the key round, than to make the holes in the keybox square. However, the other end of the key must be square to keep the key-flag assembly from flopping over. I usually use 12 diatonic keys, but the last two or three are very difficult to get a clear note with. The positions of the keys and their holes in the keybox sides are laid out with the Rule of 18, which means that the distance fron any chromatic note to the next higher half-step is 1/lSth of the distance from that chromatic note to the bridge. In other words, if the note "C" on a given string is 18" long from fret to bridge, the next note "C#" is !/18th of that distance, or one inch closer to the bridge. Apply this to the Hurdy-Gurdy: If the string length is 15" from bridge to nut (the nut in this case being a hole through the peg- box front), then the distance to the first flag-key assembly is 15" multi- plied by 1/18. Subtract this number from 15 and you have the new string length from the first key-flag assem- bly to the bridge. Divide this new string length, in tu, by 18; and you have the distance to the second key- flag assembly. Continue doing this 21 times, and you will have the locations of 21 chromatic notes. However, you don't need a chromatic scale with all the sharps and flats, so eliminate the following note loca- tions: 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, 18, and 20. This will leave you with 12 diato- nic notes, just like the Appalachian dulcimer, allowing you to play in any of the 7 diatonic modes by changing the pitch relations of the drones and melo- dy string. You should now take these 12 diatonic note locations and mark them accurately on both sides of the keybox,