Interesting idea, but I would think that the wheel constantly rubbing on the strings at the same location would wear through them soon enough and break them. It must put enough pressure on the strings to make the sound, like a bow. A bow on a violin moves to even slightly different parts of the strings all the time, as do fingers on the ukulele strings. But the wheel in this invention is stationary.
Interesting idea, but I would think that the wheel constantly rubbing on the strings at the same location would wear through them soon enough and break them. It must put enough pressure on the strings to make the sound, like a bow. A bow on a violin moves to even slightly different parts of the strings all the time, as do fingers on the ukulele strings. But the wheel in this invention is stationary.
Dunno about that. The hurdy gurdy is a very old instrument. The wheel part I think is like.. felt? They still play them at folk festivals in eastern europe, and the wheel doesn't seem to cut/damage the strings. It'snot a grindy, it's like.. a violin bow.
When I saw the thread title I thought of this ROTATING VARI-PITCH-UKULELE but I see it's an 'uku-gurdy which I suppose could be constructed so the wheel could be moved slightly to rub the strings in offset locales. Interesting traditional sound. That setup is a bit large and clumsy IMHO; a more portable version should be doable. And didn't Jimmy Page have a palm-of-the-hand motorized wheel for violin effects on electric guitar?
(That instrument have been going strong for over 15 years of performance, and given that it plucks rather than rubs the strings at the exact same spot, leads me to think it should be eating up strings faster - there is some better footage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDkRoExlEpw#t=4m59s)
(That instrument have been going strong for over 15 years of performance, and given that it plucks rather than rubs the strings at the exact same spot, leads me to think it should be eating up strings faster - there is some better footage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDkRoExlEpw#t=4m59s)
Fascinating........... in a Rube Goldburg kinda way. The sound is like nails on a chalk board and makes me want to jump off a cliff :stop: I love mad scientist types but some of them are way out there. Guess that is what makes them interesting