A HURDY - GURDY IN ACCORDING TO J.F. UNGER
( 1753 - 1804 - a German woodcutter, book printer, publisher)
The variant tuning in C/G, measure: 35cm.
The picture “Der Drehleierspieler” – “The hurdy-gurdy player” – is taken from Marianne Bröckers book “Die Drehleier – Ihr Bau und ihre Geschichte” (“Hurdy-Gurdy – Construction and History“): a woodcut by J.F. Unger (National Graphics Collection Munich.
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The
hurdy-gurdy in the musician’s hands looks earthy and vigorous. The music he
may have played for the pleasure of his listeners was probably his life support.
The unusual looks of this hurdy-gurdy – still retaining rustic elegance
despite the large body – tickled me to rebuild this peculiar-looking old folk
music instrument. |
The
voluminous body is made of maple and pine, further constructions of maple. The
tuning pegs are made of European hard wood like oak, beech or maple. Coloured
with earth colour pigments dissolved in priming oil. Following a thorough drying,
the surface was lacquered several times with shellac.
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Despite
its antique exterior this unusual hurdy-gurdy features a tonal capacity of two
chromatic octaves (13/10) with one melody string, two drones C/G and one
trompette (chien can take several positions). For an
even more comfortable handling: An
eccentric enables you to lift the melody string off the wheel without opening
the keybox or removing the wheel covering while playing. It can be easily
operated from either side of the keybox. All
further technical features as listed on the hurdy-gurdy starting page.
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Prices ( including sales tax 19%):
Version with one melody string = Euro 1690,-
Version with two melody strings = Euro 1790,-
Email: hurdy-gurdy@saitenklang.de
January 2009
