Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info
MMD > Archives > August 1996 > 1996.08.01 > 01Prev  Next


Re: Chordephon Zither Music Box
By Robbie Rhodes

Dear Gerard, you wrote:

> Your wagering of tuning the Cordephon like a music box may be
> right. I will ask my former colleague. He is the man constructing
> the 60 string Cordephon, a disk-music-box. The Cordephon is
> playing automatically with a big punched-metal disk, if the
> spring-motor of the instrument is activated.
>
> An original 40-string metal-disk playing Zither is in his
> possession. He knows the meaning of " Die Zitherwirbel tragen das
> bezuegliche Notenzeichen". ["The tuning pegs bear the the relevant
> note-data."] On the 40-strings Zither you see the tuning
> character on each tuning peg for the string tension. What are the
> characters for the 60 strings box?
>
> Het allerbeste van
> Gerard Arkenbout
> uit Den Haag (is ook s'Gravenhage) in Nederland (The Netherlands).

I'm sorry I don't own the big reference book, "Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments", by Q. David Bowers, but I saw in it a photograph of the 60-string Chordephon. The photo appears to be post-1950. Unfortunately, this book gives no data about the tuning. Somebody, somewhere, owns this fine, original instrument. Have you inquired at the museums in Utrecht and Munich? This man is seeking Chordephon disks -- perhaps he knows:

Harry Natuschka, Lange Weihe 63 C, 30880 Laatzen, tel:0511/820945.

Best regards, Robbie Rhodes

 ----------------------- 
| Robbie Rhodes |
| rrhodes@foxtail.com |
-----------------------

(Message sent Thu 1 Aug 1996, 03:33:35 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Box, Chordephon, Music, Zither

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page