Wolfgang Weichselbaumer's new drop wheel hurdy gurdy

Wolfgang Weichselbaumer has developed a new hurdy gurdy that allows the player to drop the wheel away from the strings so that the strings can be plucked or "tapped" as well as bowed. The pressure on the strings can also be varied for louder or quieter sound. It is much easier to imagine the possibilities of the instrument than to try to describe them. This instrument is being played accousticly but can be amplified.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• hurdy gurdy
• weichselbaumer
• vielle a roue
• drehleier

[Ferlondaferlie]

I heard Tobie Miller play one of these instruments at the Over the Water Hurdy Gurdy festival in September and it was GORGEOUS. Of course, her playing was amazing, too...

[WaterpigMaster]

Wolfgang's gurdies have a very mellow tone. I like it. Not sure about the dropping wheel thing, but any experimentation that doesn't sound awful in the gurdy world is probably good.

[pachuco5]

how much would one of these cost and where the hell can i get one from?

[Hurdygurdytroll]

Wonderful! I´ve ordered one of those, can´t wait til I get it! :D

[jralyea]

Technical problem overcome: The pitches of the strings must remain true, -- the same whether bowed by the wheel, or plucked of strummed by the fingers. The result: a whole new range of musical possibilities for the hurdy-gurdy. This is a most remarkable achievement. (Congratulations, Wolfgang!)

[jralyea]

This innovation is the result, without a doubt, of M. Weichselbaumers experiments to improve the string-stop mechanism of the lira organizzata (vielle organisée). This mechanism is a system of levers designed to lift the strings away from the wheel in order to silence them, by pulling a stop-knob (the organ pipes then sound by themselves). Instead of levers lifting strings, he uses a system of gears to displace the wheel.

[dulcie22]

I want one!

[MrJohnElder]

Wow

fantastic