“My most beautiful memory: a Japanese girl who had bought a nerdyharpa kit, built it herself, and who sent us a video in which she, in Swedish costume, stood with that instrument in front of the Ikea store in Tokyo, on a “Swedish day”, really overjoyed, beaming with happiness, with her self-made nyckelharpa. Really fantastic!”
In his own words Jaap Brand gives his vision for his production of the nerdyharpa: an open source manual for building an instrument from plywood, with the help of laser cutting and 3D printing. For many people, a hand-built nyckelharpa is out of reach, both geographically and financially. By building the nerdyharpa yourself with the help of the open source manual or from self-build kits prepared by Jaap, an instrument becomes accessible. For a quick look at the nerdies, you can go to www.nerdygurdy.nl; you will see them right away.
The nerdyharpa is available in two ways: as a ready-made kit, but also as an open source set of instructions for 3D printing and laser cutting.
Jaap Brand receives me, early in the fall of 2024, at his house in the Twente countryside in the east of the Netherlands. Jaap, a musician but also a mechanical engineer with a lot of experience in the construction of machines for microchips production, designs kits with which enthusiasts can build hurdygurdies (“nerdygurdy”) and nyckelharpas (“nerdyharpa”). In his earlier engineering work, he also had a lot to do with acoustics – although at that time his concern was eliminating sound and vibrations as much as possible – and that experience has also served him well.
A few years ago, Jaap wanted to play the hurdy-gurdy. But how do you get an instrument? That wish was the basis for Jaap's first nerdy instrument: the nerdygurdy. Photos of his instrument on Facebook led to questions from interested buyers. Slowly a company started to emerge. In recent years Jaap, together with his wife Fay, has been working full-time on the nerdy instruments. Hundreds of kits of the nerdy gurdy have been sold. By now, sales of the harpa kits are also going well.
Six months earlier I had heard about the nerdyharpa via Vicki Swan. And I ordered such a kit. I have a few nice nyckelharpas, so that was not what I was looking for. And I was skeptical. Plywood! But the job seemed fascinating to me.
A few days later the package arrived, estimated 50 x 25 x 8 cm in size. I had downloaded and printed out the manual, and a large work table installed; tools within reach. What struck me from the start: the nerdyharpa ultimately looks like a nyckelharpa, except for a few details (especially the tuning pegs of the playing strings)….but the internal construction turned out to be completely different! And you notice that step by step during construction.
The manual recommends regular commercial wood glue. A special challenge with that glue is that you have only 2, 3 minutes to adjust any part. The most complex gluing jobs are the attachment of the front and back. The front has to be bent first (in warm water, cetainly a hell of a job with plywood). When gluing, a whole series of protruding small parts have to fit into openings in the top. To achieve that within two minutes I found an exciting challenge!
While building I already had the plan to interview Jaap. But first I wanted to try out my “self-built” harpa. I had seen and heard finished nerdyharpas; I knew the sound would be acceptable – but of course not equal to that of an instrument made by a “real builder”.
Of course, every player has his own opinion about the construction of every nyckelharpa. My biggest objection is that the top – the most decisive part of the instrument for the sound – is made of plywood, just like the rest. And that is really noticeable. The choice for a plywood top is of an economic nature: a top made of suitable spruce would make the kit at least 80 euros more expensive, Jaap tells me, and therefore less accessible to potential buyers.
I have some problems with the shape of the heads of the keys: they are completely straight flat. Not rounded, just straight with unmerciful corners, which make sliding along the keys more difficult. Really a minor thing to fix yourself. The strings that come with the package are of the cheapest kind; one should actually replace them directly with real nyckelharpa strings.
Due to the playing position, the nyckelharpa sound is often slightly muffled: the back rests against your belly. That is why I like to use a violin shoulder rest. Because of the modest sound of the nerdyharpa I certainly would recommend this - but to fit a shoulder rest to the instrument, the back must protrude along the edges. Unfortunately, that is not the case with the nerdy.
All these comments are of secondary importance. The nerdyharpa is almost a full-fledged harpa. As Emelie Waldken already said: it really does sound like a nyckelharpa! The sound is modest, the living, brilliant tone is somewhat lacking, but the resonance of the resonance strings is fine. Even the physical feeling is that of a nyckelharpa.
Fay and Jaap Brand
The reception by Jaap and Fay was much less “nerdy” than I expected. Not only did they both turn out to be much more of a musician than I had expected, I also discovered I knew Jaap in a way, via an unexpected detour! Years ago I bought a CD at a performance of the Dutch folk band Gonnagles. I was charmed by the CD case: made of plywood, with the name of the band cut out by means of laser technology! A precursor to the later nerdy work: The Gonnagles was the band in which Jaap and Fay played! I had no idea about that, because at that time the two lived and worked in Singapore for a few years, so they could not play at many of the Gonnagles’ performances. But Jaap had designed those CD cases!
Jaap Brand is still improving his design. Version 4 is now available. What helps Jaap with the development of new nerdy plans is his eagerness to learn, and his modesty. He repeatedly presents his new instruments to experienced builders and players, and asks for comments, preferably real criticism.
“I want to learn from criticism and that is why I am happy with every comment, no matter how negative”, says Jaap. “I am happy when an expert says: this is really no good. Then I get something to learn.”
And no, the spread of nerdyharpas does not come at the expense of the turnover of artisan builders. On the contrary: the nerdy is an entry-level instrument that gives more people the opportunity to start playing the nyckelharpa. A substantial number of nerdy players then switch to an artisan built instrument.
Links:
The nerdy instruments: https://www.nerdygurdy.nl/
Facebook group Nerdy Harpa Builders: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1927732160697464/
Plan for printing and laser cutting for those who do not want to buy the complete kit: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4845356
