In Digest 970601 Richard Moody asked about "Miniature Barrel Pianos:"
> A client (of Kimball South Dakota) has a small "table top model" barrel
> piano. He is a new collector and knows little about it. I have only
> seen the full sized traditional ones and that was over 20 years ago.
and in Digest 970524 Mark Merrill asked about a "Spanish Organ Grinders
Organ:"
> I am seeking information on a small Spanish organ grinders organ. There
> is a small diamond shaped plaque on the front of the organ which reads
> "Enrique Salva Barcelona Espano". It is approximately 2 feet long,
> 2 feet high and 1 1/2 feet wide. It has a brass crank on the end which
> changes the song. It plays 6 different songs. There is a brass crank on
> the side which plays the tunes. The organ is mounted on a small two
> wheel push type cart. The wood looks to be "blonde" type. I would like
> to know what the value of this organ is and if there is anyone
> interested in obtaining one. I would also like to know the history of
> this organ and approximately age. Any and all help will be greatly
> appreciated.
He acknowledged that it looks like this:
_______________________________________
/ /|
/______________________________________/ |
| | |
| +----------------------------+ | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| +----------------------------+ | |
|______________________________________| |
/ / |
/______________________________________/ |
| | |
+-| * |o |
_| | \ | |
| O | |
\_____________________________________\_ |
| | ____________________________ | | | |
{ } | | { } | |
| | | | | | | |
{ } |____________________________| { } |//
|_|________________________________|_| //
[______________________________________]/
(eventually with Paintings on it)
This would be a typical Spanish street _piano_. It usually is moved in
the above-mentioned two-wheel push-type cart. The mechanism is a very
simple kind of barrel-organ.
I wrote to Richard Moody:
> I can't tell you the value for I don't know how big your instrument
> actually really is. The feet-measures sound very small.
>
> I don't actually need such an Instrument for we own three already.
>
> History: Can't tell; I don't know where it originally comes from,
> I only know it _only_ was build in Spain. A few were sold to
> Great Britain.
>
> Age: Very difficult to say. I don't know where the oldest such
> instrument is, but I do know that they have been built for a very long
> time: My father drove to one of the builders in Barcelona to buy one
> for me when I was 4 years old -- my first mechanical-music instrument !!!
Now you say:
> The names on the inside say "Vincente Llinares" and "Faventia".
> The operating and tuning instructions are in English, the importer is
> "Embassy Publishing & Trading Co., New York, NY." It appears to have
> been made in the 60's as there are clear plastic "arms" that the wires
> the hammers are on are stuck into. Sorry about the nomenclature, I
> have forgotten the names of parts. Is 'clavis rack' a barrel piano
> term?
This sounds very familiar for me :) , especially the "Faventia". Not so
familiar for me is that they have been sold in the US ! Very amazing,
but, well -- what hasn't been bought buy an American so far? ;)
Plastic has also been used in two of our three barrel-pianos. One
barrel-piano is older, which explains the absence of plastic, though.
We also own another "hammer-set", which is the whole construction of the
hammers on "their place" on a metal "holder". These hammers are also of
plastic.
By the way, I don't think there are special "barrel-piano" terms, but
also would learn the opposite, if existent.
> There are 25 notes, 5 or 7 bass notes, a block (double beater)
> and a triangle.
A Block and Triangle with two hammers each are standard for those
Spanish-barrel-street-pianos (what a word!).
25 notes sounds really very small; so far I've seen three types:
-- the smallest with 25 notes like yours
-- a small one with about 50 notes. (This is not for sure, for I didn't
count them now. I did count them once, but I don't find the data and I'm
too lazy now to go to our barrel-pianos to count again.)
-- the big ones. About 150 (?) notes and also with bells and so on.
> It makes quite a racket. I had to tune it by matching pitch. I
> tuned it 1/2-step low as some of the notes were as much as 6 half-
> steps flat!. We will find out how it holds but I think it was
> mis-tuned, or the pins were tested and the notes not tuned back. The
> tuning pins were piano size but small. It plays 6 tunes. I didn't
> write them down but 3 had familiar melodies.
Don't do it! Don't tune it! You will destroy the original sound! They
really always sounded like that !!!
Don't think of a Spanish-barrel-street-piano-builder tuning a triangle or
a wood-block!
Six tunes is standard for the smallest and as well the small ones.
Barrel-exchanging is extremely easy. There have been lots and lots of
different tunes and barrels for these pianos! My father should have a
list somewhere.
The big ones have at least 8 tunes (8, 9, 12, others ?).
> I just got out of the archives, but found only two mentions of a barrel
> piano. However in Joyce Brite's www "market" site, I found two items
> relating to the Faventia name.
I've never looked for this term so far.
> Anyhow I was hoping some one has been working on them more recently
> than I and could post some technical details, like a warning about the
> spring, (the table top model has none) adjusting the hammers so they
> don't blubber, (appears in the tt model can only be done by bending
> the wires), some terminology, like what the pins are called that the
> pins on the barrel activate, and things you forget like the cap to let
> the roller carriage out pops out easier from the top than the center
> because of the two holding pins on the bottom.
Very strange what you want -- it's a simple barrel-piano! There is not
much technical detail. Just open it and you see everything which is of
importance. There is also not very much to adjust: the piano-strings
can be tuned by a normal piano-knowledgeable man; the rest is very stable
As said, it's been my first mechanical instrument and I played it 10
years on the street -- no repairs, nuttin' -- and hey, I was a child at
that time and I played it _rough_ ! ;)
> There is a very complete tuning scheme on the inside of this instrument
> if any one is interested.
>
> Richard Moody Piano Tuner Technician, Platte SD
Not for me... I have it here in real ;)
greetings by(e) Ingmar Krause
ERlanger drehORGEL-Trio, Familie Krause, erorgelt@balloon.franken.de
[ Thanks for the nice article, Ingmar. This little piano hasn't before
[ been discussed in the Digest. Keep writing ! -- Robbie
|
