Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info

End-of-Year Fundraising Drive In Progress. Please visit our home page to see this and other announcements: https://www.mmdigest.com     Thank you. --Jody

MMD > Archives > August 1999 > 1999.08.16 > 14Prev  Next


"Melodean" Plays Self-Punched Paper Strips
By Mike Knudsen

I have a similar, but not identical, music box, called the "Melodean"
(sic).  It's Japanese, and I bought it in the late 1960s as a Christmas
gift for my father.  I paid $20, if I recall right, from a San Francisco
mail-order shop called Haverhills.  It came with some pre-punched tunes
and about three blank cards, one of which I punched with my arrangement
of an Old World dance tune that my Dad loved to play on the piano.  He
was really tickled!

It runs on three size "D" cells and has a rheostat knob to vary the
tempo, whereas others are reporting hand-cranked units.  The motor
starts automatically when you shove the card strip into its mouth on
the side, and as it plays the card loops back and is ejected out the
bottom.  It looks like a small fake-wood table radio of the transition
era from tubes to transistors.

The scale is indeed 20 notes, diatonic from C up to A.  The lever
plucker action is simple but effective and reliable, and the tone is
very solid and clean, although I wouldn't trade my Reginaphone. :-)

I've been meaning to write up a short article on the Melodean for one
of the MBSI publications, having never heard of such a box anywhere
else -- until now.

Mike Knudsen


(Message sent Mon 16 Aug 1999, 16:45:56 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.)

Key Words in Subject:  Melodean, Paper, Plays, Self-Punched, Strips

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page