About Us

Luthier Eduardo Luz built a solid and well recognized career as a maker of guitars, basses, and acoustic guitars.  As a musician and guitar player himself, he took an interest in building instruments in search of the perfect guitar for his personal skills and needs when playing on stage. He dedicated his time and efforts to researching, studying, and designing new guitar models for 8 years before turning his eye to the zanfona.
 
He built his first ever Hurdy-Gurdy in 2018, relying solely on his knowledge as a luthier and skills with tools. The only references he had were online searches and comments from a friend who admired the instrument. He had never seen, touched, or played one before.
 
Soon after, he designed another model based on what he observed and learned from the previous one. This was a basic model that led him to think of a new way to build hurdy-gurdys.  Eduardo invited Rique Meirelles, a highly qualified gurdist from Brazil, to try it out and provide some feedback.
 
After that, always moved by the desire to do better, he continued researching, talking to other experienced luthiers like Cesar Loureiro and developing new ideas to create the Vision model in 2019. This new instrument resulted from the knowledge acquired after making 7 other gurdys. The sound, aesthetics and playability were absolutely superior. This led Eduardo to believe that it was up to par and very similar to several references he had seen in works of European luthiers whom he admired. So, in 2020, Eduardo invited European hurdy-gurdist, Sergio Gonzalez, to test it, give him some feedback and advice on what could be further improved like the trumpet which he said felt a difference in sensation but he wouldn't know what to do to get the sensation he wanted, he just said it needed to be crisper.
 
Following his desire for a better sound and constructive excellence, Eduardo designed the New Vision or Vision II.  bringing to the vision model everything that had been suggested to Eduardo. 
 
In 2022, in search for the real feel, texture, playability and sound of other hurdy-gurdys, Eduardo and his wife embarked on a learning journey to Chateauroux, in France, to experience Le Son Continu, the most traditional hurdy-gurdy event in Europe. 
 
There, Eduardo talked to several friends and had a chance to meet some of his idols, who have been creative references for him. Among them were amazing makers such as Wolfgang Weichselbaumer and Jaime Rebollo. 
 
Eduardo got the chance to see his Vision in the hands of so many brilliant people including big names like Patrick Bouffard, Brian McCoy, Joan Peire Bonnet and many others. They all had wonderful opinions and provided invaluable feedback for the Vision.
 
Eduardo also took the time to chat with Scott Gayman and listen to his advice and notes but also without ever showing me these points in his own instrument, in practice, just theory. But the true highlight of the trip was spending some time with Wolfgang, hearing about his views on life and his way of thinking, how he innovates in order to create more possibilities and new dynamics.

This prompted Eduardo to rethink a few things and go back to the drawing board (in his mind), with an ever growing desire to improve. 
This baggage and evolution led to the design of the Evo model. This is where all the notes from Scott, from musicians like Ron Höllen, Francesco Giusta and Patrick Bouffard and ideas from Wolfgang Weichselbaumer came into play. In Eduardo’s eyes, these are the true representations of practicality and functionality, and to whom he dedicates all credits and thanks for such inspiration and lessons learned!
 
 

The Evo
A completely new instrument, but with the ELZ look and feel, the Evo is a very sonorous and resonant instrument, with the clear and crisp sound of classic instruments. It has a new construction system and several structural changes. The Evo is extremely light and weighs 2,900 kg.  Its dimensions are L62xW32xH21cm, which makes it much easier to carry and transport. It has aluminum and corian wheels, special bearings, new keys, felt system on the keys to reduce clacking sounds, banjo tuners and a new lever, in addition to a new keybox, new sympathetic system, new capos and a new adjustable system for all string rests and string guides!