New musical toy

Tom Baugues

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Location
Lafayette, Indiana
This past weekend I picked up this Faventia barrel piano. Built in Barcelona Spain. Probably about 60-70 years old. Needs some repair work. Looking forward to figuring out how it works and how to best go about restoring it.
The barrel is missing a “tooth” and it is WAY out of tune. Outer cabinet seems to be in fairly good condition. The grain in the wood really pops. Looks like just pine wood but very straight grain.
Came with a very nice cart.
 

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That is really neat, and the cart is awesome. Is there a way to replace the tooth? The wood with that straight grain,,, Douglas Fir maybe?

I know the barrel can be removed ( haven’t done it yet though). I’m thinking that I can simply carve a new tooth and fit it in place. Hoping that the old tooth might even be laying down in the bottom somewhere.


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Wow, That's awesome. Are you able to make/get different barrels for it to play different tunes?

Yes, I’ve been told they are “out there”. So I just need to learn what to look for.
Each barrel contains 6 tunes. A selector handle on the side pushes the barrel over slightly so that a different set of pins connect with the hammers.
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That's just too cool, Tom! I'd not heard of a barrel piano before, but it definitely looks like a fun rehab project. :thumb:
 
I would crank it now for you all to hear but you would be tearing your ears off. Yes, it’s that bad. I’ll record one but probably won’t post it until I can get a before and after video to post together. It’s pretty embarrassingly bad right now. [emoji15]


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Are the teeth wooden? If metal and I can help, I will.

Teeth are all wooden. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to cut a whole new gear. I’ve learned that the gear is just screwed to the end of the barrel so I should be able to remove it and use it as a pattern to make a new one.
Thanks for the offer though.


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I decided to remove the barrel from the piano last night to look at the “broken tooth”. What I discovered is not what I was expecting. The wooden gear had actually “split” and the opening was actually a wide gap not a missing tooth. So, I’m hoping I can still use it as a pattern to cut a new gear.
It’s probably still going to be another 6-8 weeks before I get to work in my shop due to the cold weather but this at least gives me a heads up on what I’ll need to do.
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