Where can I purchase a Nerdy Gurdy kit?

Complete kits, including all laser-cut and 3D-printed parts, all hardware and fasteners, bearings, tuning heads, strings, and a fully-assembled and dressed wheel (you will still need to do final wheel truing) with a machined shaft and metal crank are available directly from Nerdy Gurdy.

There are a few licensed regional distributors who mostly supply kits consisting of only the laser-cut and 3D-printed parts. Some may also be able to provide the wheel/shaft assembly. You will need to source the fasteners, tuning heads, strings, and any other off-the-shelf hardware yourself. The assembly manual contains a parts list for reference.

Avoid kit sellers you see on Etsy, eBay, or the like, unless listed at the above link for licensed distributors. They are violating the license of the open source design/plans of the various Nerdy Gurdy models, and should be reported to the merchant platform.

Can I cut/print my own parts?

Yes! All of the files for the Nerdy Gurdy BASIC v1.7 and the Nerdy Gurdy 6.3 are available from Thingverse.

Where are the plans for self-printing/cutting the newer models?

Entirely too many people were violaiting the CC BY-NC-SA license of the open source plans for the BASIC and 6.x by selling kits for profit. As a result, plans for the Nerdy Gurdy Linotte, Nerdy Gurdy Petite Linotte, and the Nerdy Gurdy FORTRAN are not available from Thingverse or anywhere else, nor are the plans for the revised Nerdy Gurdy BASIC v2.

What type of finish can I use?

Pretty much anything that seems reasonable. The innumerable combinations of paints, inks, dyes, stains, varnishes, lacquers, oils, waxes, etc are something you’ll need to decide upon yourself. Many people get by with just a single coat of spray-on clear acrylic. Plenty of people have had success with rattle-can spray paint. Seasoned woodworkers have countless conflicting opinions on every layer. Some builders have spent ten times as long applying luthier-grade natural finishes than they spent building the entire kit.

The only universally agreed upon finishing rules are:

• Never get any finish of any kind on the veneered edge of the wheel.. It should be raw wood and rosin only.
• Do not apply any surface coatings to the shafts of the keys or the insides of the key holes that could cause them to bind. Opinions and experiences vary on what is safe to use and what to avoid. As long as your finish isn’t changing the size/shape of the shafts or holes, and isn’t any grippier than wood-on-wood, you should be fine.

How do I true my wheel?

Watch this video by Jimi Hellinga. Do not be surprised or get frustrated if it takes you an hour or more to get it perfect, even for the pre-dressed wheels. Truing the wheel is absolutely critical to the sound of your instrument.