[CAUT] Hurdy Gurdy

[Jeff Tanner]

This is a deep hearted thank you to all for the answers to the Hurdy  
Gurdy question.  If I ever encounter a real one, now I have some  
ammo.  At least I've learned about something I didn't know about  
before, and this has evoked quite a bit of interest for me.  I am  
much appreciative of all the effort you all went to offering advice  
and help.

It turned out to be a Faventia Barrell Piano, exactly like the one  
found at this link, but with a deep red stain.

http://www.pebworths.com/Faventia/Faventia.html

Quite an interesting music box to be sure, at the time, an expensive  
gift to her grandfather.  It has apparently earned the nickname  
"hurdy gurdy" due to the crank handle you turn to play it.  She said  
that's what she'd always heard it called, and I looked on ebay and  
found one exactly like it, callled a hurdy gurdy.  Each pitch is  
noted above each set of tuning pins (1/0), and a piano tuning hammer  
is required to tune it.

...so I guess it turned out to be more piano related than I  
expected.  I must say I'm disappointed it wasn't actually a hurdy  
gurdy.  I'd gotten my hopes up for that.

Thanks,
Jeff T


On Sep 8, 2006, at 11:51 AM, Jeff Tanner wrote:

> Hi all,
> I know this is completely off topic of pianos, and I apologize but  
> I'm not finding any clear answers anywhere else that satisfy me.   
> (and yes, I've been to http://www.hurdygurdy.com )  I thought I see  
> if there are any CAUTs who might have a little experience with this  
> medieval instrument.
>
> Does anybody know how the Hurdy-Gurdy (or French Vielle a Roue) is  
> normally tuned?  I'm supposed to meet with a client tomorrow to  
> help her.  Feel free to answer off list.
> Thanks,
> Jeff