Projects
The Hurdy Gurdy
I have always been fascinated by the Hurdy Gurdy and after seeing the "Piggery Jokery" show by The Hand to Mouth Theatre at Wickham Festival the desire to make one has returned. Su Eaton (one half of the duo) was kind enough to let me get up close and have a poke around at the workings of her Hurdy Gurdy. Not as complicated as expected but by no means simple!
Have a look at their website http://www.handtomouth.co.uk and make sure you go see them perform if they are playing near you!
Banhu, Yehu, Ruan, Yueqi.....
The list goes on! As well as the mandolin i am hoping to start working on some Chinese instruments that i am particularly fond of. The Banhu and Yehu are both bowed instruments with 2 strings. They both use coconut shells or shaped bamboo as the body with a thin soundboard made of wood rather than the more common snakeskin. I will try to add more information soon.
Mandolin
The mandolin is an instrument that I have always really enjoyed listening too. Jimmy Page has a lot to do with that! I have started designing a 4 and 8 string mandolin. It is based on the classic A5 design but with a thinner more elongate teardrop body. It has a scale length of 35.88cm with 2 crescent shaped sound holes, 1 either side of the bridge/neck. I will add some pictures of my designs soon. I just need to get to grips with Google Sketchup a bit better first!
Stick Dulcimer
I am mostly working on Stick Dulcimers at the moment. I have been working on a range of sticks that use different timbers. I am interested to see what effect these woods have on the tone, overall weight and playability of the instrument. I hope to have some audio and video samples of each on the website in the not too distant future.
I have also been looking into producing soft padded bags for my stick dulcimers. Not knowing much about fabrics and sewing i think i will consult my mother on this one.
