RE: The Hurdy Gurdy - An Ancient Instrument With A Modern Sound
A friend of mine showed me some hurdy gurdy videos a few years ago but none were as good as the ones you've shared here.
The start of that first one reminds me of an album I really enjoy from an electronic musician by the name of Tim Hecker. And that Guilhem Desq one is absolutely fantastic.
I really wouldn't mind trying my hand at playing one now. I doubt I'd be able to make it sound very good musically but I reckon I'd be able to make some beautiful noises.
I just looked up homemade hurdy gurdy and found this site with plans for building a $20 hurdy gurdy: http://dennishavlena.com/hurdy.htm
I'm sure you could find someone to make a relatively decent sounding one for much cheaper than the $2000-$3000 being charged for the good ones. I'm sure the expensive ones are worth the money but it can sometimes be a good idea to start off with something cheaper when you just want to get the feel of it.
Thanks for the plans. I love that the schematics are rendered in ASCII!!! Could be a really fun project, though.
You're right, playing on something cheaper would be a good way to try it out and see if I was going to stick with it. (Too bad you can't just rent one for a while.) And there are some basic models close to $1000. But then I think, "Hmm, if I really love this, I'm out the $1000 and still have to pay the $3000 for the one I want..."
I love Tim Hecker. I listen to a lot of that sort of drone music while writing. It's great for setting a mood. That's probably why hurdy gurdy stuff works too. You're probably familiar with Ben Frost, but if not I'd recommend checking him out too!
If I had any woodworking skills I'd give it a shot to see how it might turn out.
Yeah, I get what you mean, at those prices it's almost better to save up for the more expensive one. In my case the things I buy to try out are much cheaper so it's not too bad. For example I bought a cheap ukulele for €20 and learned a few chords on it, after I had realised how much I enjoy playing it I bought one for €80, and now I'm just waiting for enough disposable income to justify buying one in the €100-€300 range.
I'm only really familiar with Hecker's Virgins album but have been meaning to listen to some more. And Ben Frost's name sounds familiar to me but I don't know if I've heard any of his music, I'll have to check him out later, thanks for the recommendation.