The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses tangents—small wedges, typically made of wood—against one or more of the strings to change their pitch. Like most other acoustic stringed instruments, it has a sound board and hollow cavity to make the vibration of the strings audible.
Most hurdy-gurdies have multiple drone strings, which give a constant pitch accompaniment to the melody, resulting in a sound similar to that of bagpipes. For this reason, the hurdy-gurdy is often used interchangeably or along with bagpipes. It is mostly used in Occitan, Aragonese, Cajun French, Asturian, Cantabrian, Galician, Hungarian, and Slavic folk music.
One or more of the drone strings usually passes over a loose bridge that can be made to produce a distinctive percussive buzzing sound as the player turns the wheel. -From Wikipedia
A fascinating instrument with a great history that is frankly making a comeback in folk music. I would love to see a rock band pick one up. If we can have Hu, we can have that.
To a typical string player it is upside down. Guitar, bass, violin, banjo you reach under and around. This you reach over and around. You press keys, not a fingerboard. It’s easy to learn the basics. The instruments themselves are anything but standard and come in a bewildering array of personalized variation.
Oh, Hu, is Mongolian Metal. They use transitional Mongolian instruments in Metal.
Edit: Yes, I’m slightly enthusiastic about this thing.
One of the characters (a transplanted Cossack) in my Outremer game plays one. Another character (An Edessan Half Giant) plays the Mizwid - a middle eastern bagpipe - so they play together occasionally, and joke about getting the band back together.
Now I’m wondering out loud how hard it would be to make a prop Hurdy Gurdy for the game room, with a bunch of runes carved into it? Lots of opportunity for decoration on there. Might try making a fake harp first as a test of concept.
