# I am a beginner...



## sammyooba

...to the art of making music boxes!

Anybody have tips on hand making them?

Can you buy combs by itself?

What material is good for making the drum?

Standard combs can play sharps and flats right? Do they have the weird thing with pianos in that BC and EF is a half step?


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## Tapkaara

Wow, I'm not sure anyone here has any idea how to make music boxes...


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## sammyooba

I'm also self-studying music theory. I'm having trouble on minor intervals on the circle of 5ths. Anybody want to be my study friend ? -_-


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## PostMinimalist

Music box drums do not make any concessions for diatonic scales in the way piano keyboards do. They are generally desined to go into what ever comb is used in the box. If the music is chromatic then a fully chromatic comb (the most common) is used and the octave is divided into 12 equal steps. Each octave is indiscernable to the eye since there are no 'markers' (like black keys on the piano) to clarify things. This is due to the mechanical nature of the box which does not require any human intervention. So... the chromatic comb is univeral, and any drum with the correct spacing can be used. The 'plectra' or little pins that stick out of the drum are placed in such a way that they hit the right 'tounges' (bits of the comb).

You might be able to see some patterns on the drums which are ussually repeated figures like arrpeggios (broken chords) or fast scales (usually like a shallow diagonal line). These will not generally be geometrically perfect (unlike the comb) since it is these which include the concessions made for semitones and whole tones which define the tonality of the music being reproduced.

Also, make sure you screw the frame tightly onto a nice solid resonator with the right size of holes for the volume of the box. Generally this is done by trial and error but have a look at some Swiss boxes to see approximately what you should do.

Here is a link to prbably the best swiss maker today:
JOBIN

Here's a link to a shop that handles restoration of boxes in England. He's a polish furniture maker but he loves musical boxes.
Czajkowski

Good luck and I hope you show us some of these creations when you've made them.
FC


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## sammyooba

Oh thanks. Didn't think anybody would actually reply. I bought some music box movements from a UK website. I don't know if it's even worth it since I don't know the price range of these things.
http://www.deanorgans.co.uk/musical_movements.htm

One of them was one powered by a key and a lever. Another one I bought was the one that sucks in a piece of paper with holes punched in. Well, I need to start somewhere so I thought I'd buy some. Was 80 dollars (60 bucks for 2 movements, 1 paper sucking music box, and 20 for shipping to USA, ouch)

I'm going to try to take out the drum, make my own drum from clay or something, and see if I can get it working from there. I think the hardest part will be spacing out my pins. I will try to make some excell with a graph and print it out to tell me where to pin on the drum

I wish there was some school for this music box making. I want to be the worlds best music box maker :/

I am going to take welding class and sculpture in college which might help making music boxes.

I will post my music box on youtube if I ever get them working.


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## PostMinimalist

Looking forward to that!


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## Bach

Whatisamusicbox!?


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## PostMinimalist

look at the links.


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## smcalaster

Wow that's a really cool hobby. I'm going to check out the links too! Thanks everyone!


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## bingo29

I am not a beginner also. Just want to learn guitar. Can you suggest any way?


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