Jaap Brand describes how the Nerdy Gurdy came to be. By Jaap Brand A few years ago, I took up the idea of building my own Hurdy Gurdy. Now, I’m not much of a craftsman, so that might be a disadvantage. I am, however, a highly experienced mechanical engineer. My normal field is designing equipment for the high-tech industry, with customers around Europe, Japan and Silicon Valley in the US. So, I thought: why not use the tools of the trade and create a Hurdy Gurdy using modern rapid prototyping technology; Laser Cutting and 3D printing? Would it be possible to create an instrument that is inexpensive to build, and…