Dan's Dulcy Gurdy

I'll walk you through the creation of my "Dulcy Gurdy," a Symphonia, an early form of the hurdy-gurdy with roots tracing back to the 12th and 13th centuries. My experience with stringed instruments began 50 years ago, designing and building Appalachian dulcimers that I sold from a shop on 4th Avenue. Given the dulcimer's use of a melody string supported by drone strings and its simple diatonic tuning, I decided to adapt that concept for this project, hence the name "Dulcy Gurdy." 

This project was sparked by the incredible resources and expertise available at Tucson's Xerocraft Maker Space. The wealth of tools and the invaluable guidance of the knowledgeable volunteers and staff made this endeavor possible. 

Before diving in, I conducted thorough research, exploring similar projects on YouTube and discovering a particularly helpful document from Lutheriaitalia, credited to Pietro. This detailed guide provided the foundational ideas, which I then adapted with my own innovative twists. 

Using Xerocraft's laser engraver/cutter, I made the instrument's box, keys, key guides, and bridges. Getting precise key placement for accurate tuning was a significant challenge. I imported scaled screenshots of dulcimer fretboards into the LightBurn program, creating guides for where the keys whose tangents would intersect the melody string. 

The tangents (the wedge-shaped components that contact the strings), the string winder, and the final rotating wheel were all produced on a 3D printer. Initially, I used a lathe to create the wheel, a first-time experience for me. However, after experimenting with various designs, I found that a 3D-printed wheel produced a superior sound. 

After testing the A-D-A dulcimer tuning, I ultimately settled on tuning the melody string to A and the drone to D, a fifth lower. I found that the second drone tended to overpower the melody, and this new configuration provided a much better balance. 

Ultimately after hours and hours of experimenting, I'm pretty happy with the instrument's playability and sound. However It's a work in progress. And now I need to learn some tunes! 

I've posted a YouTube video here ...

I welcome your comments and suggestions

Dan Davidson, 
dan@dantastic.us 
March 6, 2025