What are the differences between the French, Hungarian, and other styles of hurdy-gurdy?
There are many styles of hurdy-gurdy, but French is the most common. Most of the ones we make are French style, with some variation in decoration, so they’re domestic, but also essentially French. The main features that are commonly French: two chanters, four drones, French style trompette (more on that in a moment), 23 keys in two rows, upper keyfronts form a solid line, key shafts extend through the back of the keybox so you can tell which key you’re pressing, keybox and peghead taller than their width, chanter strings and trompette tuned fairly high. The same features on a Hungarian instrument, which is called a tekerö or tekerölant, meaning “rotary lute”: one chanter, two drones, Hungarian style trompette (see below), keys still in rows, but not quite as many, upper keyfronts form a broken line, keybox is so wide that key shafts don’t extend through the back, peghead also quite wide, chanter and trompette tuned much lower. The older symphonie style can vary quite a bit: one or two
