SMALL BARREL ORGAN

Building Instructions

A publication by the working team "Bouwerskontakt van Huismuziek, Vereniging voor muziek en instrumentenbouw" (contact between amateur musical-instrument builders with­in the club for home music and instrument building).

ISBN: 90-73293-09-X (English edition)

Contact-information:

With the help of this book the building of a small hand-operated book organ is within the reach of a skilled Do-It-Yourselfer. Once he or she has man­aged to build this instrument they will have the satisfaction of hearing the original form of the musical masterpieces which great composers like Händel, Haydn or Mozart wrote for mechanical music instruments.

The descriptions are not extensively detailed, how­ever they are more then adequate for an experi­enced do-it-yourselfer who is somewhat familiair with the fundamentals of automatically playing organs. In addition of having the skill of working with wood and wood working tools you must also have the possibility to make (or have made) some components from metal.

Johan de Vries, Eng.

Author 

This manual presents in a simple manner and with simple materials and with a large dose of inven­tiveness a detailed guide on how one can get a rea­sonable result. There was a great need for such a book.

By studying the contents of this book one does not become a Carl Frei, a Dom Bedos or an Ignaz Bruder. But you can start on this project with unbelievable pleasure and I can assure you, in case you do not have two left hands and precisely follow the construction details, you can get a result that will sound magnificent.

Dr. Jan Jaap Haspels,

Custodian Director

National Museum van Speelklok tot Pierement Utrecht, Holland

Example drawings (which can be found in the Book)

Example photo from the book