Some more details on my "Melodian" Japanese punched cardboard strip
music box.  Note I misspelled mine in the first posting ["Melodean"],
but now I have the little manual in front of me.

It is from "Melodian Co. Ltd." of Uchikanda Chiyoda-Ku Tokyo; no mention
of Sankyo, but many Japanese companies are interrelated in all sorts of
ways.

It is definitely a lever plucker -- no star wheels.  Once a plucker
lever tip pops through its hole in the card, the card drags the pin past
the comb tooth tip to sound it.  That is, the card itself supplies the
force to pluck the tooth.  So after many plays the holes start to wear
and get elongated.

The levers are "L" shaped, and both sections of a lever act as their
own springs.  One section maintains pressure of the plucking tooth
against the note sheet, to force the tip through a hole when one comes
by.  The other section's spring action snaps everything back to rest
position after the card has dragged the tip past the comb tooth.
(Please excuse my use of "tooth" and "tip" for both the plucker and the
pluckee!)

This simple mechanism would indeed have worked for projection-less discs
such as used on Mermod's Stella, but the levers must be on the opposite
side of the strip or disc from the teeth -- an awkward arrangement for
a disc music box.

Now -- people are suggesting the Japanese and German mechanisms may all
be compatible with each others' music strips.  I'll break the ice by
providing exact measurements of my cards.

 mm    (inch)

 69    (2.72)   Total card width
  5.5  (1.40)   Margin from bottom edge to first (lowest) note
 57    (2.24)   From first note to last (20th) note
  3.0  (0.118)  Hole pitch (adjacent notes): 3 mm exactly
  6    (0.236)  Top margin (highest note to top edge)

Sanity check:  5.5 + 57 + 6 = 68.5 mm, more or less = 69

In horizontal (time) axis, one beat (quarter note) = 6 mm

If everyone else would please post their measurements, we can verify
interchangeability and swap tune cards.  :-)

Mike Knudsen

 [ Yes!  Everybody: please compare your manivelle and cards with Mike's
 [ description.  See the photo at  http://mmd.foxtail.com/Pictures/
 [ and also the photos at Manda Clair Jost's page:
 [   http://www.angelfire.com/ma/mandaclair/plingplong.html
 [ -- Robbie