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I had never heard of the Wheel Harp before. It appears to be a sort of polyphonic hurdy-gurdy: one tuned string per key, and depressing the key engages that st
by driggs 4y ago
I had never heard of the Wheel Harp before.
It appears to be a sort of polyphonic hurdy-gurdy: one tuned string per key, and depressing the key engages that string with the wheel-bow. The wheel appears powered by electricity, and the foot pedals appear to either control the pressure or speed of the wheel-bow.
In contrast, the hurdy-gurdy's (and nyckelharpa's) keys shorten its melody string to increase the pitch, like fretting a violin or guitar. The wheel is manually cranked, and the rhythm of the cranking is used to adjust tone and engage the buzzing of the trompette. The HG is monophonic in that you can't dynamically play chords, though you can engage multiple melody strings simultaneously (usually octaves or fifths).
- jacquesm 4y agoThe sound of that thing is so incredibly haunting. I really like it though and I've been thinking about building one.