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Jaap Nerdy Gurdy Fortran Assembly Manual

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by Jaap Brand, NL
2025
Nerdy Gurdy Fortran
Assembly manual v1.0
1

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Summary of Contents for Jaap Nerdy Gurdy Fortran

  • Page 1 Jaap Brand, NL 2025 Nerdy Gurdy Fortran Assembly manual v1.0...
  • Page 2 Introduction This manual describes how to assemble a Nerdy Gurdy Fortran kit. Go to https://www.nerdygurdy.nl for more info about these instruments.

  • Page 3: General Directions

    General directions It’s best to read through the whole sequence, before starting. ● When removing parts from the plate that are still attached, it’s best to cut the attached points with a sharp knife or ● chisel, to avoid splintering. Before gluing, it is wise to assemble the parts without glue, so that you’re sure how they fit together.
  • Page 4 Parts included in kit (1) Bag 1 Trumpet Drone edge Melody Mute Dog base Drone Strap pin Tail clamp edge support mute base support Drone Dog support Brug Tuning peg Nut low Nut high Tool 10mm bush (no hole) Nail Buzzing bridge (dog)
  • Page 5 Parts included in kit (2) Bag 2 Ring Lager Buisje Moer Bout Lager Zwengel 5,3 mm groot M5 x 45 klein Bearing holder Bag 3 Bout Scharnier Bolt, M3 x Schroef Moer M3 String Schroef M3 x 10 groot holder klein...
  • Page 6 Parts included in kit (3) Bag 4 Trumpet capo Upper trumpet Upper trumpet Drone capo Drone capo Small screw M3 nut bolt M3 x 10 base capo lever base 2,5 x 13 mm Lower trumpet Drove lever M3 lock nut capo (nyloc)
  • Page 7 Parts included in kit (4) Bag 3: Machine heads (tuners) Wire and felt Tangents Tangent bolts Self-adhesive felt 6 mm x 270 mm 42 x large tangent Piece of string 2 x ~300 mm 20 x small Piece of metal wire tangent ~130 mm 62 x bolt...

  • Page 8: Tooling List

    Tooling list Tools, glue and paint are not included in the kit. You may need the following tools and materials to build your instrument: Wood glue ● All-purpose glue ● Some screwdrivers ● Size 10 wrench (or pliers if all else fails) ●...
  • Page 9 Let’s start building! Note alignment guides Make sure the sides are well aligned. Remove any excess glue with a wet cloth...
  • Page 10 This should remain visible Make sure to keep 6 mm plate thickness away from the edge (guiding lines are engraved)
  • Page 13 Note orientation Use all purpose glue or super glue...
  • Page 18 Not touching!
  • Page 19 Ensure that the wall is centered Ensure that the wall is vertical...
  • Page 21 Smallest type of screw in the kit (2,5 x 13 mm)
  • Page 22 Test fitting the shaft assembly in place. It should easily slide in and out of the inner bearing. If not: try improving the alignment of the bearing, or use fine sand paper on the end of the shaft that goes into the internal bearing.
  • Page 27 Important note: the side pieces are Tip: soak the side pieces not rectangular, so look carefully at the in water for a few hours, orientation: to make them softer and Note easier to bend. Head Tail orientation! side side Practice clamping them Bottom side without glue first.
  • Page 29 Schuren zijkanten...
  • Page 30 Use this for centring...
  • Page 33 This is where you can get creative and bring personality into your instrument. Below is how we often paint them: a clear coat on the keybox and body, and black for the other parts. But you can do whatever you like here of course. No paint inside the slots for the keys!
  • Page 40 Do NOT glue...
  • Page 43 Insert the M3 nuts into these slots Screw the bolts in from the top (only until the bolts pass through the nut on the bottom side). Later we will use these bolts to adjust the force of the strings on the wheel.
  • Page 44 Twist wires Twist the wire together to to adjust the fixate bridge upright...
  • Page 45 (Do this for both tuning pegs) Drill 1 mm Drill 1 mm hole in hole in the the side bottom (~1 cm from the tip)
  • Page 46 (Do this for both tuning pegs) Use all purpose glue or super glue...
  • Page 47 Update picture...
  • Page 49 Use the included fastening tool and a 6mm hex key to tighten the tuners from the bottom Peel of It helps to pre-drill the foil the holes (1mm) for the small screws.
  • Page 50 Do NOT glue Middle one is higher Nominal position is aligned with the edge. These can be used later to tweak the scale length and distance between string and tangents, if needed.
  • Page 51 Evt. Vastschroeven? Slide keybox all the way towards the head...
  • Page 52 Optional: use ink (not paint!) to die the keys. You can also treat them with furniture wax, to help them slide more smoothly.
  • Page 54 Stick the strip of felt inside the key-box, just above the keys. This reduces the sound of the keys hitting the key box Remove the backing from the self-adhesive strip of felt...
  • Page 55 Attach the hinges to the lid...
  • Page 56 Attach the lid to the keybox It’s best to pre-drill some 1 mm holes in the side on the lid, to reduce the risk of it splitting when you screw in the screws...
  • Page 57 You can use a bolt to slide the nuts into place...
  • Page 58 Bolt from the outside. You can adjust these later, to make sure the strings don’t vibrate against them.
  • Page 59 Insert wheel from the Screw the shaft into the wheel...
  • Page 60 Fix the bearing in place with a 2,5 x 13 screw...
  • Page 61 It might be necessary to ‘true’ the wheel after it has been assembled, to make it perfectly circular. You can also do this in a later stage. This is how it’s done: 1) Add some tape to the sound board to avoid damaging it. 2) Turn the wheel with a drill or just with the crank 3) Scrape the surface with a sharp chissel or utility knife blade until it is perfectly round 4) Finish the surface with a fine grain sanding paper...
  • Page 62 It is best to use loctite/ super glue to make sure the bolt can not come loose later Gently press the knob onto the bearings...
  • Page 64 Place the buzzing Make an 8-knot in the bridges (dog) . They trumpet strings and in should be free to slide the high melody string, and vibrate. so you can mount them.
  • Page 65 Glue is optional, and best to do later, After adjusting the position with the strings...
  • Page 66 Glue is optional, and best to do later, After adjusting the position with the strings...
  • Page 67 Note: this is a suggested tuning, which can be changed to your preferences Drone G2 (98 Hz) 1,4 mm wound Drone A2 (110 Hz) 1,3 mm wound Drone C3 (131 Hz) 1,2 mm wound Melody G4 (392 Hz) 0,85 gut Melody G3 (196 Hz) 0,95 wound Melody D4 (294 Hz)
  • Page 70 Adjusting the scale length Because strings are not infinitely flexible, adjustment the actual vibrating length is slightly Open G shorter than the distance between the (1) bridge supports. G key To achieve perfect tuning, this length can be adjusted with the following steps: 1) Make sure the bridge is upright.
  • Page 71 Adjusting the strings on the wheel Adjusting a hurdy gurdy to sound nice takes practice and patience. If your instrument sounds like two cats fighting: do not despair! We’ll try to take you through the steps: 1) Apply rosin to the rim of the wheel. You can do this by holding a block of rosin against the rim and rotating the wheel, or you can use liquid rosin (YouTube will explain).
  • Page 72 Mutes For novice players: it is usual to play with 1 or both melody strings, depending on the kind of sound ● you want to achieve. The other string is muted, by lifting it off the wheel and placing it on the ‘mute’ position.
  • Page 73 Adding capo’s (optional)
  • Page 74 Upper Drone capo trumpet capo...
  • Page 75 (nyloc) captive nuts Upper trumpet capo!
  • Page 78 Check the tuning before screwing down the base. You can tune them a bit with the M3 bolts, but not that much.
  • Page 79 Drone capo Drone capo (nyloc) captive...
  • Page 81 Check the tuning before screwing down the base. You can tune them a bit with the M3 bolts, but not that much.
  • Page 82 Revisions NG Fortran V1.0 First release...