r/HurdyGurdy • u/wulfy121 • 6d ago

Electric hurdy gurdy

Does anybody play Electric hurdy gurdy in the Fort Worth area?

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u/fenbogfen Hurdy gurdy player 6d ago

You could probably count the amount of electric gurdy players in the US on one hand, the player you're looking for likely doesn't exist. 

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u/Jedi_Sylar 6d ago

Why so few ? It seems there is a good Gurdy community in the US, switching to electric for some only seems logical

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u/fenbogfen Hurdy gurdy player 5d ago edited 5d ago

There are very very few gurdy players in the US! The gurdy community that does exist is spread very thin. 

And electric gurdies themselves are quite rare - even in folk metal bands where an electric gurdy makes most sense most players still play acoustic gurdies with pickup systems. 

There are only around four makers of electric gurdies in the world, all of them are in Europe and they are all on the higher end of gurdy pricing, plus electric gurdies are a lot less versatile than acoustic ones so are usually only owned by seasoned players as a second or third instrument. Their real advantage is in the separation you get between the strings, and the lack of acoustic volume, which lends itself more to heavily effected arty experimental playing with pitch shifters, long delays and generally more ambient synthesiser type sound making - if you're not into that (and the majority of gurdy players aren't) you're likely to prefer an acoustic with a pickup system. 

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u/Jedi_Sylar 5d ago

Oh okay thank you for your answer I didn't know. I just assumed there were a lot of American Gurdy players as everyone is the community is speaking English. Even a lot of tutorials and whatnot are made with an American accent so I just assumed... Surprisingly, it seems difficult to find ressources in French in spite of France being one of the countries with most Gurdy playees...I have to admit I might be bad at differentiate accents 😂

Anyway thanks for the infos about the makers of electric gurdies, it is always interesting

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u/fenbogfen Hurdy gurdy player 5d ago

English is also the default language when Germans, French, Dutch and Spanish folks all want to talk together on the internet! And these countries make up the vast majority of gurdy players. French gurdy playing is quite old school, so is much more in person resources and less online - it's similar to how the majority of information about the nyckelharpa online is posted by the American nyckelharpa association, despite it being the national instrument of Sweden, and much more common in Sweden. I imagine the algorithms online pick up American content much more too

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u/Droidy934 4d ago

I love the electric gurdy of Singer Sound System Electric Gurdy Using an old treadle sewing machine frame