Building a Monarch

The first of February I shared a bit about our Hurdy-gurdy business and promised more later. Well later has arrived but not the way I expected. At that time I intended to regal you all with a bit of Gurdy history and the story of our blind date with it. Maybe later. For now I have a different adventure to share with you, my treasured readers. For some reason after many months of writing a builder’s manual for our Gurdy kit, wrapping and shipping parts, Gurdies, and kits all over the world, last week I decided to build my own Gurdy from one of our kits. We had sold my hurdy-gurdy just before Christmas and since then I have been gurdiless. This makes it impossible to practice my coo (fancy name for the way we Gurdy players turn the crank to get a buzz). Ah, the solution. I will build one myself. Besides what better way to test the accuracy and user friendly aspect of that Manual we labored over!

February 21, 2010
Sunday after church, Mel helped me select a suitable body from our shelf , and laying out my personal copy of the manual, I began my journey. Those of you who know me well will not be surprised if I tell you that I was sure I could have it nearly done in a couple of weeks. Yesterday I assembled the building brace and the three braces that give the body shape and strength. I was constantly reminded of those IQ tests we used to take in school. Which shape looks like another one? Which piece is the mirror of another piece and now how in the world do they go together? Oh I guess I need to turn the page on my manual…

 Tuesday February 23

Today, I sanded, trimmed, sanded, and trimmed some more until the braces fit snugly in their place. I won’t bore you with all the details but suffice it to say it took me most of the day to get them glued in place and then glue in the rest of the bracing called kerfing! Tomorrow I will sand the arch for the top and hopefully glue on the top and bottom. If you have time to stop back tomorrow, I will include a few pictures.

Finally glue is dry on the braces and I even have the holes cut out and the Monarch inserts glued in. We used a small ring of soundboard material glued to the underside to make a ring reinforcement for the sound holes.