There are lots of flat back guitar shaped French HGs They should be less of a challenge to build than lute-backs I have the privilege of owning and playing two 19th century HGs
You can see them at http://www.hurdygurdy.org/historical.htm They are by Nicolas Colson and Denis-Joseph Germain The Colson in particular is stunning musically If you click on the Germain pic, there are more detailed pics Both were restored by Alden & Cali at Olympic Musical Instruments I personally don't know of any plans of this style Graham Whyte -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Scott McKee Sent: 04 January 2008 19:45 To: [email protected] Subject: [HG] Hurdy Gurdy Plans Hello All: I have just joined the list and I must say I am amazed at the volume of e-mail and the enthusiasm shown for the hurdy gurdy. My name is Scott and I live on the west coast of Canada on Vancouver Island. I am a lifetime woodworker and I have had a passion for building musical instruments for most of my woodworking career though I haven't made my living as a luthier. I have built quite a few acoustic guitars over the years and have always wanted to build a hurdy gurdy. I have an old hg plan from 1978 that was drawn by Scott Antes. However, it seems to be lacking in detail. I'm sure this question has been asked here many times but where can I purchase a set of plans that are detailed enough to allow me to build a high quality hurdy gurdy? I followed the discussion started by Douwe yesterday with great interest and checked out many of the links. I was particularly interested in the La Vielle à Roue by Michel Pignol http://vielleroue.free.fr website. Although I don't speak French I think I could manage to decipher most of the text given the French I learned in high school with a bit of help from the Internet translation engines. I would prefer, at least for a first instrument, not to build a French style lute backed hg as it seems that the project would be complicated enough without adding curved staves to the equation. I do like the general outline of the French style hurdy gurdies. I have found many sets of plans offered on the Internet but with little hg experience it's hard to know which plans are 'good' and which would be an exercise in frustration. Thanks in advance Scott
