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MMD > Archives > June 2004 > 2004.06.29 > 01Prev  Next


"Tuneyville Player Piano" Player Slide Whistle
By Devon Hollingsworth

Hi all,  In 040627 MMDigest Phillip Dami inquired what might be the
world's smallest player pipe organ.  I wonder if it might be the
"Tuneyville Player Piano", which is in actuality a playing pipe organ
in a piano case.

About six inches wide, eight inches high, and a couple of inches deep,
it appears on the outside to have only two pipes, but it plays the
pitches of the 8-note scale very accurately.  You can only play one
note at a time, manually or with four plastic discs that have a tune
molded on each side.

I presently own two, and they delight visitors every time I start them
up.  Would this qualify as the world's smallest player pipe organ?

Devon Hollingsworth, in DeKalb, Illinois

 [ That's cute, Devon, and it's not been discussed before in MMD.
 [ A quick search on the 'Net suggests it was made by the Tomy toy
 [ company in the 1950s or '60s.  I think it's really a self-playing
 [ slide whistle and mechanically it is related to the singing bird
 [ boxes and the Griesbaum whistlers.  -- Robbie


(Message sent Tue 29 Jun 2004, 14:58:17 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.)

Key Words in Subject:  Piano, Player, Slide, Tuneyville, Whistle

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