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MMD > Archives > December 2003 > 2003.12.10 > 05Prev  Next


FS: "New Age" Air Calliope by Melville McBride
By Sander Mommers

-- forwarded message, please reply to sender and MMD --

On behalf of the widow of a recently deceased good friend of mine,
I am looking for people who might have an interest in buying his air
calliope, built for him in 1981 by

  New Age Air Calliope
  Melville McBride
  215 Elva Drive
  Aptos, CA 95003
  408-688-1665

It has 44 keys, from F below middle C to 3 octaves above, and a
built-in blower which sounds like a vacuum cleaner to me.  I played
with it: all the whistles work -- loudly!

The pipes are black plastic (ABS) sewer pipes with support brackets of
Lexan.  It appears to be a design that can be built from hardware store
materials.  There is no mechanism for player rolls.

In 1981, this one was one of three such units in existence.  I don't
know how many were built after that.

Mel McBride strove to recreate, in an air driven calliope, the throaty
sound of the old steam driven units.  I have never heard a steam
calliope so I don't know how successful he was.

For sale for US$6,000 or best offer.  Located near Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada.

Alexander (Sander) Mommers
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
amommers@science.uottawa.ca.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]

 [ See the "New Age" calliope at the MMD Calliope site,
 [ http://mmd.foxtail.com/Calliope/index.html  -- Robbie


(Message sent Wed 10 Dec 2003, 20:44:08 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.)

Key Words in Subject:  Age, Air, Calliope, FS, McBride, Melville, New

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