[linn37]

Question for anyone who knows,what is that instrument Sting is playing?

[Lil'freeper]

I believe it's a hurdy gurdy (sp??)

[KellyAdmirer]

That Cold Mountain song is terrible.

I'm old enough to remember when Liv Tyler actually tried to make herself look attractive.

[Maigrey]

Someone said in 1498 that it is a Hurdy Gurdy.

I sure didn't know what the heck it was.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Sting was playing the Hurdy Gurdy.

The hurdy-gurdy is a stringed instrument in which the strings are rubbed by a rosined wheel instead of a bow. The wheel is turned by the player's right hand, while the left hand plays the tune on the keys in the keybox. Two of the strings (usually), called the chanters or melody strings, run though the keybox and their vibrating length is shortened by the key pressing against it. Several drone strings are outside the keybox, and so sound the same note all the time. For this reason the hurdy-gurdy sounds similar to a bagpipe. A small movable bridge on one of the drones can be made to vibrate rhythmically by cranking the wheel harder, and this buzzing is used for a rhythmic accompanyment to the tune. A diagram of the parts is shown on a separate page.

[dep]

it was an olympic volksgurdy, a gorgeous and terribly expensive -- alas -- instrument. it is stringed like a lute, but the strings are sounded by a rosined wheel instead of being plucked or played with a bow. chords and individual notes are played by keys (sort of visible in the picture on the other side of the neck). beautiful instrument, besutiful sound.