First of all it work's (I couldn't believe it either). I am an Australian who built this in a garage using a hand saw, a drill, and a rough conversion of inches to the metric system (what even is 1/8th). And from what I learnt you can make a of a lot of mistakes A LOT. as long as you succeed in trueing the wheel, drilling the string holes correctly and sanding the pegs smooth it should work. My list of mistakes for you to learn from are: gluing the back block with a gap were the clamp didn't hold, getting the bushel rod stuck halfway in the support block, accidentally snapping one of the long soft thin bendy wood bits, gluing the support block incorrectly to the top board, getting one of the smaller supports glued lopsided (again clamp issue). using a drill and bread knife to carve the top and bottom boards to shape (worked really well), and finally doing all this while converting inches to cm (again Australian). and after all that working and sanding and gluing and Tuning. I was rewarded with the sound of a proper hurdy gurdy with working keys. 10/10 loved the journey and was rewarded for it. Would recommend reading the document beforehand and buying the necessary parts though. Not everyone is as crazy to trial and error an expensive project like me. would suggest also converting to metric beforehand and not as your going. P.S. don't break the strings the metal ring bit goes in the base not the top. (which I broke 1)

I finished the Hurdy Gurdy which took about 57 hours. It plays and I am simply thrilled with the final result. However I would caution anyone undertaking this project to take their time, review and measure all the parts before beginning. I would never recommend undertaking this project without a wood shop, plenty of space, wood tools and a savy understanding of stringed instruments. The materials are really impressive. In my case, unfortunately the sides were two different lengths (about 1 inch difference) and I unwittingly followed the initial directions to glue the heel and tail without measuring the length of the sides. This created a challenge to square the heel to the tail. I had to recut and reconstruct the heel. The instructions suggested using tape to position the sides before glueing. I found this suggestion of using strapping tape,.. a complete fantasy. I would suggest making a wooden jig to position the sides, which I did, and square the head and tail and position for glueing. Another area of concern is the complete lack of instructions for the manipulation of the Bridges. These are a little tricky and some clear instruction here would have been helpful. Its simply absent. I ended up consulting a friend for help with this. The lathing of the wheel seemed precarious, however, it ended up working very well. However, although the chisel I used was vey sharp, the wheel ended up with some imperfections in it and the left pits in the surface of the wheel. This was the first of the materials that was not up to snuff. It was time consuming to patch and repair. Finally the key tangents are a great design, after sanding and positioning the keys into place, simply by pushing them down into their position I have broken two. The materials in the stems on the two were not up to snuff. I have decided to remake a half dozen to have available when I play. I am looking forward spending time with this great instrument.

I loved this project and while it does take a little patience it is not as daunting as I originally imagined. The wood is beautiful, the instructions clear and easy to follow, and the result is a very interesting instrument. Warning.... be careful with the strings I wasn't and broke 3 of them (if you are not familiar with the cost of cello strings... you will be surprised). Anyone looking for a project I give this my highest recommendations.