[ Mark Kinsler wrote in 051113 MMDigest

> I'm also not so keen on making a barrel, or drum.  Right now, The
> Great Craftsman Kinsler is considering finding a big tin can or small
> lubricant drum and welding upon it a sea of threaded nuts. The teeth
> of the barrel would thus be bolts threaded into the nuts.

Years ago, I also concluded that I never wanted to make or pin a barrel.
So I came up with the idea of a disc: a big disc of 1/4-inch-thick MDF
or Masonite or good plywood.  You scribe circles on it for the various
notes, and insert pins (little brad nails?) for a note to be played.
It's flat and easy to work with, and you can make it as compact or big
and clunky as you care to work with.

Another suggestion is to use electrical coupling [a switch] between
the "medium" and the sound producer.  You could read the disc pins with
electrical contacts wired to magnets that ring the bells, blow the pipes,
or whatever.  This sounds like cheating but it really isn't if the
magnets' mechanisms are exposed (something can be seen moving), and of
course one can watch the contacts being tweaked by the disc pins.

A vintage repro mechanical tower clock in the Freeport, Maine, L.L. Bean
store uses a big iron barrel with screws bolted into it for the music
program, but it plucks contacts to ring a set of chimes some distance
away.  It's still fun to watch.

A toy piano is a great idea for a sound maker.  I suspect small,
diatonic models are still made.

Mike Knudsen