Quaint Boxes

A wonderful gift to give to the women you know whether they are friends or family and draw appreciative smiles, could be a musical box.  Do you know you can make your own music box?

The vintage music box of days past, usually contained only the mechanical components placed within a cigar box or other decorative exterior in different sizes and shapes.  A key was wound which would play a piece from a song for a set amount of time.

For most of the 19th century, the bulk of musical box production was concentrated in Switzerland, building upon a strong watchmaking tradition since music boxes were usually designed similarly as clockwork mechanisms. They were quite popular and could be found in homes across Europe upon their introduction. 

The music is produced by winding a ratchet lever aka as a key to place a spring motor under tension .  This tension causes the cylinder with studded pins to pluck the teeth on a carefully tuned steel comb of varying lengths.  Some combs were designed with a basic number of  ‘tines’ or hundreds! Can you imagine the number of pins that had to match?  

The hearing enjoyment of the music box will depend upon the tone created from the choice and design of the exterior case.  Distorted sounds, is usually caused by improper vibrations on certain ends of the metal comb or unbalanced placement of the whole musical mechanism.

Today these cylinders can be manufactured with multiple pins or studs to allow playing more than one song.  This requires the addition of a automatic mechanism which will shift the cylinder from one musical movement to the next.  Play length can be a few minutes or extended dependant upon the number of spring motors.

Basic names to identify the interior components of the music box are as follows ;

– Comb, various lengths and tuned. More teeth = higher cost
– Cylinder, has raised bumps at different intervals aka as the musical movement, to pluck the comb.
– Spring Mechanism, attached to the cylinder to set it in motion.
– Key, on the exterior of the case attached to the spring mechanism to wind creating tension and motion.
– Speed Governor, regulates the speed of the spring mechanism and rhythm of play.
– Base plate, supports the musical movement.

Technology today has allowed for the manufacturing of music boxes at lower costs. Digital creations are also available done with the development of electronic circuits pre-programmed to play a melody that can be found in greeting cards and craft stores to make your own. Music box kits and supplies are available to enter the Music box market in production, repair and/or restoration dependant upon individual in-depth knowledge and skills.

A unique gift for any occasion and today available in such forms as a music box, musical carousel, pocket watches and snow globes to name a few. There are events scheduled to cater for collectors to buy and sell these beautiful items. Have you checked around to see if such a event is near you? I highly recommend paying close attention to the beauty of a music box and present it as a gift and admittedly a favorite of mine with the theme song, Love Story.

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Article(C)2009 Dame Scribe, all rights reserved. Dame Scribe creates articles and posts online. She creates articles on business skills & development, health, science, technology and society and has a strong passion for writing.