Finding the right hurdy-gurdy is difficult. Hurdy-gurdies are complex and easy to build incorrectly. Bad instruments can hinder your progress or turn you off the instrument completely. Here we will go over the instruments to avoid during your search for your first instrument.
Many of the instruments on this list are fun toys to show off and can create melodies, but if you wish to advance your skills past an extremely basic level – these should be avoided at all costs. They range in price anywhere from €400 to €5000, so a higher price tag isn’t always a guarantee that something is a quality instrument. A cheap hurdy-gurdy also isn’t automatically bad (such as the Nerdy Gurdy). These are simply instruments that have been found to be unsuitable for learning by experts and professionals. They usually involve poor construction, missing features (such as the trompette), bad materials, and extreme difficulty with setup and adjustment.
Remember: If you can’t afford to spend more on an instrument, you can’t afford to waste money on a crappy instrument. None of the instruments on this list will hold their resale value, so their value is cut as soon as you pay for one!
Are these HGSOs?
You may hear the term “hurdy-gurdy shaped object”, or HGSO thrown around in the community. This is a term for an instrument of poor build quality, considered unsuitable for learning on. While this term is inaccurate, as a poor quality hurdy-gurdy is still a hurdy-gurdy, the spirit of the term is to avoid instruments with this label.
Many are sold from Etsy and Ebay – if you have purchased one of these, they usually have a good return policy in order to avoid bad reviews. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for a return!
Finally, if you are looking for a hurdy-gurdy on a budget, check out this article.
Full list
You can read about these makers below, or in multiple of our online community groups.
Here is a list of known instruments to be avoided:
uGears Hurdy-Gurdy Model
The uGears company is an international company that produces 3d puzzles of everything from a car to a Quidditch stadium. You may have seen some of their models in a local bookstore or toy store. These instruments are exactly as described on their website: 3d puzzles. These models are not meant to be played as real instruments. While they do make a noise and have the parts of a hurdy-gurdy, they are not a performance or training tool for a hurdy-gurdy. You can play simple melodies, but you will never learn proper technique, setup & adjustment, or music theory on these instruments.
uGear hurdy-gurdies are a great present to give someone (or yourself) to display their love of the instrument. If they (or you) desire to learn and play the instrument – it is important to look elsewhere. You could also gift one to a child, and maybe spark a love for the hurdy-gurdy later in their life!
On top of being a mechanically problematic instrument, it only has 6 keys and no trompette. In no way is this model a fully functioning instrument, even if it had the problem sound quality and mechanical functionality.
There are several videos online of people trying to “improve” these instruments, but even with a trued wheel, rosin, better strings, and cotton – the instrument is still limited and you will grow bored of it in just a few hours of playing. It is also not a good test to see if you want to invest in a more expensive instruments, as it will not teach you anything about playing a real instrument.
Galloping Gurdies
Bill “The Oregon Wood Butcher” Mehess sells hurdy-gurdies on his etsy shop under the name Galloping Gurides. The seller is a known scam artist from Oregon, a state in the US. He was infamous for buying cheap, factory-made Chinese violins, taking them to a high-school festival, and selling them under the guise of restored historical instruments. Bill also is known for claiming to build a perpetual motion machine on the “over unity” forums, which have since been taken down.
On top of this instrument being diatonic (meaning it lacks the upper row of keys) – it also lacks a trompette and other common features of hurdy-gurdies. One of the biggest tells of it being a poor quality instrument is that it uses ring terminal connectors for the tangents. Others signs are that the sound holes are glued on plastic pieces, the keys are crooked, and the wheel wobbles left and right as you crank (see below videos).
These gurdies are designed to be as cheap as possible to produce, to maximize profit for the makers while being the cheapest option when searching on etsy for a hurdy-gurdy. These gurdies are known to be awful by the maker, slotting them solidly in the scam category, rather than just being poor quality.
Avoid these instruments at all cost – even on sale or used they are good for nothing but a wall ornament. Galloping Gurdies are quick to offer returns, as they would rather let you return it than risk a negative review on their etsy site. Return this to the store if you already bought one.
Fairy Gurdy Galdrshop
The Fairy Gurdy is sold on the Etsy shop “Galdrshop”, a hurdy-gurdy shop targeted toward for medieval LARPers. With various bright colors and photographs depicting medieval or medieval-fantasy clothed models holding the instruments, everything looks nice and professional.
Upon closer inspection of the instruments, the problems become clear to any serious gurdy-player. The first things to stand out from pictures are the extremely small knob, small wheel, friction tuners, and un-adjustable tangents. These three things alone will cause problems for any beginner trying to create a good sound out of their instruments. Some models even lack an upper row of keys or a trompette. Most of these lacking features were brushed off by the maker as the only way to reduce price of the instruments.
In 2024, Galdrshop released the new and improved “2024 model”. This model features adjustable metal tangents, guitar tuners, a larger wheel, and a larger knob. These changes are all good changes, but these models have yet to find themselves in the hands of experienced players. It is likely that basic geometry/engineering issues are still present, and getting a good sound out of the instrument is likely still a challenge. This article will be updates if and when real reviews come out, but in the meantime it is recommended to stay away from these instruments. After all, if you cannot afford a higher quality instrument, you cannot afford to spend your money on junk.
Workshop Medieval / Guardier
Workshop Medieval (now called Guardier) models are some of the more expensive on this list. Sold mostly on Etsy and Ebay, some of their models cost $1600 USD or more. Featuring bright colors and artistic designs, it easily grabs the attention of aspiring hurdy-gurdy players.
Older models lacked basic features, like a chien/tirant system. Like the fairy gurdy, they have clearly taken steps to improve their instruments over time. Now sporting adjustable bridges, adjustable nuts and a chien/tirant system, they also removed some older issues, such as a large nut cap on the end of the crank shaft.
While the newer instruments look much more put together, some of the more basic issues with build quality may not have been addressed. These newer models have yet to find their way into the hands of an expert to inspect them, so the true quality is unknown at this time.
Below you will find a video, where professional hurdy-gurdy player Sergio Gonzalez Prats reacts to a review of these gurdies by a beginner. This video does a great job of highlighting many of the issues with their models that go beyond just the lack of features. Problems included broken tangents, tangents rubbing against the lid, and more.
If a modern review gets done of these instruments, this article will be updated. Until then stay away, as there are much better instruments for a cheaper price available.
Vrabel Hurdy Gurdy
Vrabel instruments at their best are rustic and finnicky, at worst are a nightmare of adjustment and need complete re-working to function.
Issues range from improper bridge placement, wiggly knobs, poorly cut keyholes, untrue wheels, and broken axels. On top of these issues there are other design spots that make them poor choices for beginners, such as friction tuners and a chien that is difficult to get a buzz out of.
These are sold straight from the maker as well as on The Early Music Shop online and in person. Not all hurdy-gurdies from The Early Music Shop are by this maker, but all of them have an upcharge vs buying straight from the makers.
Newer models could be interesting for advanced players that already know how to properly setup and adjust problematic instruments, as they do give a rustic sound that may strive for when playing the hurdy-gurdy.
Beginners should avoid these instruments, as they will be troublesome to maintain, and you will likely struggle to get a good sound out of them.
Jimi Hellinga has done 2 reviews of their instruments, one older and one more recent. you can find the older review in this article and a newer video below:
Musicmakers Kit
Musicmakers, also know as Harpkit.com, is a website dedicated to kit built instruments, including the hurdy-gurdy. They also produce completed hurdy-gurdies for sale.
This kit is not up to basic hurdy-gurdy standards. The only kit worth looking at for a hurdy-gurdy is the Nerdy Gurdy. We can look at a few reason why the Musicmakers hurdy-gurdy kit is not worth it.
For one, the kit is over $1000 USD, which is more expensive than some beginner instruments we recommend. The pre-built model is more expensive than any instrument on the aforementioned list.
Secondly, this kit instrument is not fully featured. It is diatonic, thus missing the upper row of keys. It also lacks a chien/tirant system on the trompette.
Alongside these missing features, the knob is very small and uncomfortable to play. The sound holes are huge and purely there for aesthetic purposes, as sound holes often detract from the sound rather than add too it – especially this size! Finally, these instruments are known to be poorly engineered, lacking the precise geometry required for a well functioning hurdy-gurdy.
As of 2025 these gurdies look to be discontinued on the Musicmakers website, but they are still to be avoided on the used market!
Song Hurdy-Gurdy
This Chinese built instrument is primarily sold on Ebay under the name “Song Musical Instrument Shop”.
These instruments look nice in an online image, but up close are very rough around the edges. Everything from the bridges, to the tangents, and the wheel are all imperfectly shaped. The friction tuners are poorly finished and are difficult to turn, while not being very accurate. The keys are badly fit in their key-holes, giving problems with sticky keys.
The maker has been working to improve these instruments over time, but they still are expensive for what they are. You can find some models at cheaper prices of higher quality. The thing that does work well is the trompette – the chien is carved very well and gives a nice and clear buzz.
We do not recommend this instrument, especially as a beginner, as the poor quality will lead to a lot of headache while working on setup and adjustment. Even an advanced player would struggle to get the whole thing sounding anything beyond “rustic”. Avoid these instruments.
Scott Gayman did a great video on one of these instruments, where he goes through the rebuild he did of it, as well as all the problems he encountered along the way. See the video below:
Gateway Gurdy
The Gateway Gurdy started as a Kickstarter project by Neil Campbell (aka Gordon Vader) promising functional hurdy-gurdies at a low cost. Neil and his friend Ed Murphy worked to design an instrument at the lowest possible cost. They attempted to simplify the design, reduce required labor, and source low-cost parts.
Neil sent a prototype to Jimi Hellinga, a long-time community member and player. Jimi received the instrument and made a review video (which you can see below). Just one quick scroll through the review should show you the many problems Jimi discovered during his time reviewing this instrument.
While this is labeled as a prototype model, many of the problems found on these instruments exist on newer models. The makers also believed this model to be enough to review at the time of sending. No newer models have gotten into the hands of experiences players since this video, but plenty of sound samples have been put onto YouTube. Most of these samples use a lot of reverb and effects, and are not great examples of their sound.
Finally, the Gateway Gurdy team has sent out several instruments to buyers, but other buyers have been waiting years with no instruments in sight. Neil has previously responded to these individuals to let them know things are still in progress, but lately he seems to have ghosted them. There have also been examples of Gateway Gurdies being sold to non-backers before backers received their instruments. You can see some of these comments on the kickstarter as well as on the Gateway Gurdy Facebook group.
Avoid these instruments, even if you see one used for sale.
Osipov hurdy-gurdy
Slavik Osipov is a Russian luthier who builds electric and electroacoustic hurdy-gurdies, as well as other instruments at times. He goes by “hurdy_gurdy.lasercut” on instagram.
The first thing to mention is that these instruments are extremely heavy, which can get uncomfortable sitting on your lap for a time. They sound pretty good but are very very quiet, due to the flat soundboard and thick woods used for the instrument.
The overall construction is not great – uneven and heavily painted keys, back of keys hitting the trompette string, strap buttons in bad positions, melody strings hitting the string lifters, and more. They look very good in photos as the coloring and designs are very eye catching.
Many parts feel very cheap, including the crank that bends very easily. The chiens are not well built and require some additional maintenance to get a nice buzz out of the trompettes.
The initial setup by Osipov seems to be okay, with tangents in tune, but the original cotton and rosin are not great, so the instrument will require a better setup right out of the box.
Overall, Osipov gurdies are not a good choice, especially for beginners. All of the construction issues will lead to frustration early in your hurdy-gurdy journey.
Altarwind
This is a controversial one. Altarwind are one of the few makers still producing hurdy-gurdies in the United States. They also have great SEO so come to the top of many gurdy-related Google Searches.
They have very pretty aesthetics, with nice roses and other paint on them – but do not let the aesthetics blind you from the quality. These instruments range from mediocre quality to broken and unplayable. There have been many reports of bent axels, glued pieces breaking off, and untrue wheels.
While the customer service of Altarwind is top notch, and the makers are extremely nice people – they have continued to ignore reasonable advice to improve their instruments for over a decade.
Even including shipping cost from Europe, it is not worth buying these instruments. We go over this and other things in more detail in our Altarwind GurdyBlog.
As some builds are okay, a used Altarwind may be a cheap way to enter the world of the hurdy-gurdy. Just make sure to have a sufficiently advanced and trusted player review the instrument in person to make sure there are not unfixable issues on it. Many Altarwinds are not played by their owners and sit in a closet, so you will never be able to tell the quality until an advanced player does some adjustment and testing on it.
ELZ Instruments Hurdy-Gurdy
Eduardo from ELZ Instruments was originally very promising as a luthier, as he has a lot of skill from his years as a guitar maker. His original prototypes were very good, yet needed some improvements.
Once Eduardo started getting orders, he dropped quality for building speed and began to ship unplayable or defective instruments. When confronted with problems Eduardo deflected the blame as user error, or shipping issues.
While Eduardo may be able to make a good hurdy-gurdy, he has not shown he can be trusted to mass produce a consistent product. To this day he has never taken on any blame for his failures, and continues to deflect blame or accept honest feedback.
Eduardo has begun to produce multiple, cheaper models targeted towards beginners, which have been found to suffer from the same quality control issues has his Vision models. Avoid these instruments. Not just the budget friendly versions, but all ELZ instruments.
We have an extensive article on these instruments here.
Nerdy-Gurdy Knock-offs
The Nerdy Gurdy is an amazing instrument for beginners (and beyond). You can check out our GurdyBlog about the different models, upsides, and downsides of the Nerdy Gurdy. If you do, you’ll learn that the plans to make your own are free on thingiverse. This is a great way for someone with access to laser cutting and 3d printing machines to get into the hurdy-gurdy on a budget.
These plans exist on thingiverse with a non-commercial license. This means that anyone using these plans does not have the right to re-sell these products in a commercial setting. Unfortunately, several stores on etsy and ebay have broken this rule, and have been building nerdy-gurdies, claiming them to be original, handcrafted designs.
These sellers are breaking the law and are taking credit for the effort Jaap and Fey Brand have been putting into developing the nerdy-gurdy for 14 years. They are also likely creating lower quality products than the instruments that come directly from Nerdy-Gurdy and other authorized sellers. We recommend to avoid these instruments to avoid supporting those who steal the design of Nerdy Gurdy without permission, and to avoid spending money on a potentially non-functional instrument.
The easiest way to avoid these instruments is to not buy from etsy or ebay under any circumstances. If you are uncertain – feel free to contact us.
Known knock-offs:
- musicsimysoul on Ebay
- ArhaikaBrand on Etsy
- WelcomeUAStore on Etsy
More coming soon
We are working on expending this GurdyBlog to have specific information about each instrument listed here. Check back to this page or email me if you have any specific questions.
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