Introduction

This article will be focused on the very basics of the modern hurdy-gurdy. How it works, what each of the parts do are for, and some different features hurdy-gurdies often have. This is not a guide for how to play or how to setup, but rather used to give an overview to interested players considering the hurdy-gurdy or new hurdy-gurdy owners that may have some confusion about their instrument.

The hurdy-gurdy is held in the lap, with the crank on the right side, and the wheel facing up. For clarity, these 4 directions will be used when referring to locations on the instrument:

• Audience side
• Player side
• Head side
• Tail side

Table of contents

A Basic Overview

As described in our FAQ:

A hurdy-gurdy is a musical instrument that functions as a mechanical violin. Replacing the bow, there is a wheel attached to a crank. While cranking, the rosined wheel vibrates the strings that make contact with it. Strings are typically arranged on the instrument in 3 groups, they go from furthest away from the player to closest: low pitched drone strings, melody strings and high pitched drones strings.

The melody strings feed into a keybox, which replaces a finger/fret-board and has the same chromatic key layout as a piano keyboard. The rest of the strings vibrate a continuous tone like the drones on a bagpipe. Some of these drone strings, called trompettes, will have a loose bridge that creates a “buzzing” sound upon an accent of the wheel – this creates a rhythmic pattern separate from the melody line. Finally, a trompette without the loose bridge is called a mouche and just functions as a regular drone.

Individual Parts

Now we will break down each individual part of the hurdy-gurdy.

Body

The body of the hurdy-gurdy is the main bulk of the instrument. It is the part of the instrument that everything else is attached to, and creates a resonating chamber for the sound of the instrument. There are a few different parts to the body.

Soundboard

The soundboard is the “top” of the hurdy-gurdy. It is the piece of wood that mostly everything else is attached to, besides the crank and a few other things. The soundboard is very important, as much of the resonance of any string instrument comes from the soundboard. It is usually thinner than the back & sides, to make it easier for the strings to vibrate the wood. The soundboard is usually curved, with the center of the instrument being the peak of the curve.

The soundboard sometimes comes with sound holes, like on a violin – but not always. The rectangular hole cut around the wheel already acts as a sound hole, so they are often not needed and sometimes only added for aesthetics.

Back & sides

The back and sides are used to create a resonating chamber with the soundboard at the top of it. Inside the chamber there are different types of bracing to reinforce the soundboard and keep it from collapsing. Sound posts are also used to connect the soundboard to the back plate and transfer resonance through the body.

There are many different shapes for this part of the body. Some involve 4 pieces for the sides, with 1 back plate and a soundboard – creating a box shape. Others use 2 pieces from the sides, curving the sides around the tail side of the instrument, rounding it off like a guitar. Lute-back hurdy-gurdies use a series of ribs to create a bowl-like shape without any side pieces – just a curved back.

The “Bow”

On a hurdy-gurdy, a traditional bow (like on a violin) is replaced by a wheel and crank. There are a few parts to go over for this system.

crank

A hurdy-gurdy crank is actually made of a few parts: the crank handle and the knob.

The crank handle is what connects the knob to the crank shaft. It is traditionally an S shape, but can be any shape, including straight. The length of a crank handle (from hole to hole) is traditionally around 68mm, but will vary depending on the gurdy.

The knob is what your hand holds onto while cranking. The knob usually uses a bearing system to spin freely from the crank handle. It should have a smooth rotation and not wiggle at all.

The entire crank is uasually easily removable for transportation.

crank shaft

The crank shaft is what connects the crank handle to the wheel. It is a long, straight metal shaft that uses bearings and bushings to turn smoothly and freely inside the gurdy. There are no gears, so the crank and wheel are at a 1:1 ratio – meaning 1 revolution of the crank will equal 1 revolution of the wheel.

There is nothing stopping the crank shaft from rotating backwards, so you can turn the wheel backwards if needed.

wheel

The wheel is likely the most important part of the hurdy-gurdy. It is a perfectly round aka “perfectly true” wheel with a hole in the center for the crank shaft to connect to it. About half the wheel is inside the body of the hurdy-gurdy, while the rest is outside above the soundboard.

The wheel is traditionally wood with a maple or holly band on the outside (the bowing surface). The band has sticky rosin applied to it by the player (similar to applying rosin to a violin bow) to create friction between the wheel and the string.

In modern days, other materials such as specific plastics and high-grade MDF (such as Tricoya) are often used instead of banded wood.

The keybox

The keybox is the largest part of the hurdy-gurdy besides the body. It is a large rectangular prism mounted onto the center of the soundboard, head side of the wheel. The keybox, as the name implies, hosts the keys and tangents inside of it. The top of the box is a lid, usually attached via hinges to give you access to the inside of it. There are a few parts to the keybox, as we will go into detail below.

Keys

There are many layouts of hurdy-gurdy keys. They are typically arranged in 2 rows for chromatic instruments, and 1 row for diatonic instruments. They range from 1-3 octaves – with 2 octaves (23-24 keys) being the most common.

There are 2 parts to a hurdy-gurdy key. The first is the key shaft that runs across the keybox, parallel to the wheel, and fed into keyholes on either side of the box. On the audience side of the keybox, the key will have a key cap to give a larger area for your finger to push the key.

The keys are pressed towards the player, and use gravity to fall back once released. The player often cannot see the key caps while playing. Instead they must rely on seeing the key stick out the player side of the keybox when pressed in.

Tangents

Tangents are the part of the hurdy-gurdy that contact the melody strings to change notes. They are located on each key, straight up and perpendicular to the key. There will be 1 tangent per key per melody string, and pressing the key will push the tangent into the string, similar to your finger pressing the string on the fret-board of a violin or guitar.

Tangents are adjusted by twisting them up and down the string for tuning purposes. Some tangents can be adjusted front and back, changing how hard you have to press the key to activate that note. If there are more than 1 tangents per key, they must all hit the strings at the exact same time.

There are 2 main types of tangents. Metal or wood tangents.

Wood tangents

Wood tangents are made of wood, also as the name implies. They come in 2 forms, screwed in or friction fit. Friction fit tangents are shaped like a flag + flag pole, where the pole fits down into a hole. Screwed tangents look similar, but the flag pole is a screw that goes from the top of the tangent, and out the bottom into the key. Some wooden tangents will have rubber on the outside, similar to metal tangents.

Friction fit tangents have the benefit of adjusting without tools, but are more susceptible to problems when the humidity changes. They could get stuck or get loose at times.

Screwed in tangents require a screwdriver to adjust each time, but are less susceptible to changes humidity. Both types of wood tangents only pivot side to side, making adjustment easy but not very versatile.

Sometimes wood tangents will be wrapped in rubber.

Metal tangents

Metal tangents are made of metal, as the name implies. They typically have a metal base plate with a slit down the middle, and a rubber-wrapped rod sticking straight up on 1 side (opposite the slit). They are attached to the key with a screw between the slit on the base plate of each tangent.

Unlike wood tangents, metal tangents can be adjusted back to front as well as side to side. This makes them harder to adjust quickly for tuning, but lets you be more precise in the action (how hard you have to press them to activate the key). You can also make sure metal tangents strike at the same time, without permanently altering the wood of the tangent itself.

The strings

There are 4 types of strings on a hurdy-gurdy.

• Melody strings (French = chanterelles)
• Drone strings (French = bourdons)
• Trompette strings
• Sympathetic strings

The first 3 are located around the wheel, while sympathetic strings are located on the soundboard, and do not touch the wheel. Here we will go over where they are located and what their functions are.

Melody Strings

The melody strings on a hurdy-gurdy are responsible for producing the melody of a song. They are located on the center of the wheel, and run from the tailpiece, across the melody bridge, across the wheel, and into the keybox.

Hurdy-gurdies typically have 1-4 melody strings, with 2 being the traditional amount. More hurdy-gurdy strings means more finger pressure required to play a key, as each key press has to press against every melody string each time.

Drone Strings

The drone strings on a hurdy-gurdy are not attached to the keybox, but rather serve as a constant pitch accompaniment to the melody. Drones are located on the audience side of the wheel and are typically tuned to lower, tenor & bass pitches.

Trompette Strings

The trompette strings on a hurdy-gurdy, similar to drones, are also not attached to the keybox. They serve as a constant pitch accompaniment to the melody. They are located on the player side of the wheel, and are typically tuned to soprano & alto pitches.

There are 2 different types of trompette strings. The difference being whether or not the bridge has a buzzing bridge (aka “chien” or “dog”) or not. A trompette without a chien is called a mouche (aka “fly”). A mouche works just like a drone, with the only difference being the location and pitch of the string.

A trompette with a chien gives the string a buzzing sound which you can read about in detail here.

Sympathetic Strings

Sympathetic strings are the only type of string that are not touching the wheel. Because of this they are typically not played at all, but rather used as an effect. The strings are placed very close to the soundboard.. When strings are played, the vibration of the string causes the soundboard to vibrate, which then vibrates the sympathetic strings at a specific frequency depending on the notes being played.

When the sympathetic strings are tuned The sympathetic strings are tuned so that they vibrate and create a “reverb” type effect without the use of an amp. The effect is often subtle, but can create a bigger or more resonate sound for your instrument.

Sympathetic strings are the only type of string not always found on the instrument, but rather an optional addon for most makers.

Here is some unedited audio for sympathetic strings ringing. When I stop the vibration of the sympathetic strings, it is NOT the microphone muting. Goes to show how powerful of an affect the Sympathetic strings are to the sound. Remember these are ringing the whole time while you play, you just notice it more when you stop cranking.

The Trompette System

The trompette system usually involves a buzzing bridge (or “chien” or “dog”) on the soundboard or platform, a friction tuning peg in the tailpiece, and a tirant string tied from the beg to the trompette string. These systems are discussed in this article and will not be repeated here.

The head

The head is usually connected to the key-box on the head side of the hurdy-gurdy. Traditionally it has a carving of a human head or scroll, but modern gurdies often do not have this. The head is used as a mounting plate for the tuning pegs.

The tuning pegs

The tuning pegs have the same function as a violin or a guitar. One side of the string wraps around them, and twisting the peg makes the string more or less tense, changing the pitch of the string. There are a few main types of tuning pegs used on the hurdy-gurdy. Besides the shape, an important difference is the gear ratio.

The gear ratio in instrument tuners refers to how many times you have to turn the tuner to complete a single turn of the string post. For example, a tuner with an 20:1 gear ratio means that you’d need to turn the tuner knob 20 times to make the string post go around one complete revolution. The higher the ratio, the more turns it takes for the string post to make a single turn, giving you more precision.

Friction tuning pegs

Friction tuning pegs are the traditional method, and are simple wood pegs with a hole drilled through for the string. They are not usually used on modern gurdies, as they require additional maintenance, such as using peg soap on the tuners to keep them getting stuck. They have a 1:1 gear ratio, as they use no gears.

Many players require a peg tuner tool (or “tourne a gauche” in French) to turn these, as they can be very tight.

Banjo tuning pegs

Banjo tuners are commonly used on hurdy-gurdies, especially for traditional looking gurdies with modern features, as the shape of the banjo tuners are similar to friction tuners (straight, without any bends). They have a very low gear ratio of around 4:1, making them quick to tune up and down but less accurate than guitar tuners.

Guitar tuning pegs

Guitar tuners are commonly used on hurdy-gurdies – but don’t fit traditional instrument heads. They have a right angle bend between the tuner and the tuning post. The gear ratios vary greatly, but are generally very high compared to banjo tuners. Guitar tuners typically go from 12:1 all the way up to 40:1 and higher.

String guides

A string running the length of the instrument will touch 4 points of the gurdy (besides the wheel when activated). From tail side to head side, they go as follows:

• Tailpiece
• Bridge (trompette bridge is the chien)
• Nut (or “ear” for the drones/trompettes)
• Tuning peg

Tailpiece

The tailpiece is where the string starts on the tail side of the hurdy-gurdy. For the melody strings, it is usually a piece of wood or with holes drilled through, and the string fed top to bottom. The string is held on the bottom side via a knot or a metal ball.

For a drone or trompette, the tailpiece is usually a small rectangle on the side of the hurdy-gurdy. They are often accompanied with another piece on the soundboard to raise the string off the soundboard.

The melody string tailpiece also holds the tirant adjustment peg from the trompette system.

Bridges

Bridges are the next string contact point after the tailpiece, but before the wheel. The bridge starts the vibrating length of the string, and is critical to transfer vibrations of the string to the soundboard.

The bridge is usually adjusted for the proper amount of string pressure on the wheel. Either via paper shims, or via bridge adjuster wheels.

For a drone, a screw is sometimes used as a bridge, in order to make string pressure adjustment easier. For a trompette with a buzzing bridge, the chien acts as the bridge (thus, buzzing bridge).

Nut & Ear

For melody strings, the nut is an adjustable part that marks the end of the vibrating length of the string. It is at the head end of the keybox, right before the strings feed into the head/tuning pegs.

Drone and trompette strings have an ear instead of a nut. They are usually not adjustable.

Extra pieces

String lifters

String lifters are the last notable part of the keybox besides the nut. They are platforms that sit above the melody strings as they enter the keybox. The player can set the string on them to lift the string off the wheel to “deactivate” them when you don’t want to play that specific melody string.

Wheel cover

The wheel cover is usually a curved piece of wood held tense by 2 blocks attached to the soundboard. It archs over the wheel to protect it. On traditional gurdies, it may be attached to the drone bridge via a string.

Strap buttons

Strap buttons are located on the sides of the body of the gurdy. There are usually 2 on the tail end, and 1 on the head end. Your strap attaches to each side to hold the gurdy securely in your lap while you crank. They function like guitar strap buttons, but are set up for a Y strap on the tail end.

Bridge Tie

The bridge tie is what holds the bridge in place. A bridge without a bridge tie will typically lean towards the wheel if not held back by the bridge tie. An improper bridge angle can lead to an improper scale length.

Bridge ties typically connect the bridge to the tailpiece, and come in several forms.

The most common is the violin tailgut, which is typically used to attach the violin tailpiece to the violin body. These work well because the bridge end of the tailgut has a small screw, that can be used to adjust the bridge angle for tuning purposes.

Also commonly seen is a twisted wire. Usually the center is open so you can twist it more or less to control the bridge angle.

Other types of bridge ties have been used, such as fishing wire, but are not as common.

Capos

Capos come in 2 types with the same general purpose: to pinch the string at a specific position, shortening the string length and changing the pitch. The 2 types depend on if they are on a melody string or a drone/trompette string.

Drone & Trompette Capos

Drone/Trompette capos, also known as lever capos are very commonly seen on modern instruments (but usually still optional – talk to your luthier while ordering!), often 1 per string. They are typically sharping levers (aka harp levers) but sometimes use other mechanisms to capo the string.

The harp levers are placed on the head end of the string. They are typically positioned so the pitch is tuned up 1 whole note, but can be positioned anywhere on the string depending on the desired pitch. Droning on a different note gives you a different sound and potentially lets you play in a different key.

Because they cannot be pinched onto a fret-board like a guitar capo, the capo needs to pinch the string without deflecting it towards or away from the wheel. Otherwise the string pressure would be incorrect after capoing.

Melody string capos

Melody string capos, also known as key lock capos are mechanisms that lock a key in place, like you are holding the key down while playing it. Whichever key is locked into place becomes the “open note” of the melody string.

The downside is that the keyboard becomes shorter, as you lose any notes below the locked note. For this reason, key lock capos are more common on instruments with a longer range (2.5-3 octaves) and positioned on the bottom keys (closer to the head side of the melody string).

The other problem with standard key lock capos (some makers have designs that eliminate this problem) is that they do not pinch the string, and end up deflecting the string to a different angle. The action of the lower notes nearby the locked key often requires more action (pressing distance) to play.

Some of these capos pinch the key shaft in place, but there is another type where the back end of the key twists while the key is pressed.

Other terms you may hear

Here are a list of other terms you may hear, that do not have specific parts assigned to them to point out.

Scale Length/Vibrating Length/String Length

The scale length refers to the distance between the nut and the bridge. The vibrating length is the part of the string that actually vibrates when cranked. It is equal to the scale length when no keys are pressed down, but the vibrating length can be changed by pressing a key. The entire length of the string – the scale length, the string between the nut and tuners, and the string between the tailpiece and bridge – is the string length.

When measuring scale length, it is important to measure from the inside of the nut to the inside of the bridge. Ask your luthier about the proper scale length for your instrument. The longer the scale length, the farther apart the tangents need to be, so the bigger keys you get. A longer scale length means you can fit more keys on the instrument to make 2.5-3 octave instruments – but a longer scale length doesn’t always mean a luthier will put more keys on it!

String setup – 1/1/1, 1/2/1, 2/2/2, 2/3/2, etc

You may hear someone reference an instrument as a “2/2/2” or a “1/2/2” or some combination of numbers with slashes.

These numbers refer to the number of each type of string on the instrument. The first number is the number of trompettes, including the mouche(s). The second number is the number of melody strings, of any tuning. The third number is the number of drone strings. Sympathetics are not included in these numbers.

See below examples of a 1/2/2, 2/2/2, and 2/3/2 instrument. Notice that sympathetic strings are ignored when counting the number of strings in this manner.

Parts not listed here

Do you have a hurdy-gurdy part not listed here? Email me, ideally with a picture of the part (but a description could work too). I will add it to the list 🙂

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