Hello MMDer's!  I have a player piano that some time ago I rebuilt
into a nickelodeon.  It plays "A" rolls.  I have a mandolin attachment
but not a second instrument.

I have decided to add (most likely build) a xylophone, as I feel when
I'm playing rolls I am missing out on a lot.  I have bell bars already.
I have looked at a lot of photos and done a lot of reading and from
this I have worked out a basic pneumatics design that I'm happy with.

The one thing I'm not sure about is how the strikers should behave.
Should they strike a xylophone bar briefly and bounce off, much like a
piano hammer hitting a string?  Or should they hit and stay in contact
with the bar as long as the note is on, so as to give a somewhat muffled
bell effect for longer notes?

I'm sure that there are many of you out there who have a nickelodeon
with a xylophone who can tell me first hand how this is supposed to
work.  Also if anyone has a xylophone (bells with pneumatics, any
condition) that they would like to sell, please let me know.

Thanks, and Best Regards,

Ray Finch

 [ Editor's note:
 [
 [ A xylophone is always of wood bars ("xylo-" is the Greek root
 [ word for wood).  The instrument with metal bars is a called a
 [ metallophone (orchestra bells, glockenspiel).  The marimba is a
 [ xylophone with a small buzzer in the resonator.  Fanciful names
 [ for the big resonant metallophone in theatre organs are "Harp"
 [ and "Chrysoglot".
 [
 [ Often acoustic chambers are placed near the bars to make the sound
 [ volume greater in a specific direction, as in a baffled loudspeaker.
 [
 [ The xylophone or metallophone beater is allowed to bounce away
 [ after striking the bar, just as in a piano action.  The resilience
 [ of the beater determines if the tone is strident or mellow (also
 [ as in a piano!).  Materials include wood, resin, firm rubber and
 [ felt; sometimes the beater has a jacket of yarn.
 [
 [ A reiterating xylophone in a nickelodeon consumes much more air
 [ than does a non-reiterating mechanism, more than a typical player
 [ piano pump can provide at typical speed.
 [
 [ For theory and construction information see the chapters entitled
 [ "Designing and Building Percussion Instruments" and "Building a
 [ Xylophone" in the book, "The Orchestrion Builder's Manual and
 [ Pneumatics Handbook", available from author, Craig Brougher
 [ <craigbr@worldnet.att.net>.  Some specific details from Seeburg,
 [ Link and Nelson-Wiggen nickelodeons instruments are also presented.
 [
 [  -- Robbie