Hurdy Gurdy or what?

Subject: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 06:58 AM

Odd instrument Found this in my perambulations round the web, never heard of the guy, but what about that instrument!
Giok

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: rumanci
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 07:03 AM

are you sure he's playing it Giok ?    He could just be pumping up some bellows -   Grating hearthily !!
;-)

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Dr. Guitar
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 07:30 AM

Dear Mr MacKenzie,

Oh dear! You have found me out! I had wondered where that old argyrotype had disappeared to...

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Guitar

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 09:35 AM

He may not be playing it, merely holding it.

Isn't it a nyckelharpa?

See http://www.nyckelharpa.org/

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 07:47 PM

I suspect that what is in his right hand may be a bow.

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 08:54 PM

The thing appears to have "stop blocks" of some sort along the top of the lower portion. Four rows of 12 to about 14 per row. The player sort of looks like he's "making a chord" with the left hand, but the image quality is too poor to tell whether there are exposed strings or stop buttones there, so it may be just his "grip."

The object in his right hand is definitely a straight round rod that extends into the body of the instrument. It has a small knob on the end in his hand. (The emobossed logo partially obscures the view, and takes a bit of "mental subtracting" to tell what's there.)

A hurdy gurdy would have a crank to turn a wheel against strings on the inside, but I can't see a way he could input any appropriate turning action with either hand. The best I can speculate is that perhaps the rod in the right hand pushes in/out to pump a bellows.

This would suggest that someone frightened (severely) by a nykleharpa or a hurdy gury decided to do something with the guts out of a couple of dozen harmonicas - or disassembled an old reed organ. The push-rod pumping action would be rather "stiff" I would think if trying to pump more than a few accordion/concertina style reeds; although there's nothing saying that athletes can't be musicians.

Best I can read from the picture - it's a stationary bellows accordion. Perhaps a "portable" take on that old thing (celestory?) that crops up in 16th century paintings where one angel pumps for the angel at the keyboard, but more likely here with reeds than tiny pipes. The later celesta used keys to strike "gongs," but pumped versions are shown in a few paintings, presumedly using small pipes.

Just guessing.

John

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 10:22 PM

i believe its an early 19th century
hand-cranked dynamo power generator..

electic guitars & amp technology was quite crude and cumbersome in those days..
and folkrock bands in remote rural areas could not always depend
on a reliable local electricity supply.
Such a generator as the one pictured could only provide sufficient power for one musician at a time..
and it was not unknown for bands to gig with large cost inefficient teams of roadies..
each equipped with one or more portable generators.

Guitarists with a well equipped FX pedal board were a particular
problem for tour managers with the responsibility for
on stage power logistics.

Later, more powerful wood fire burning steam generators seemed to be an answer, but caused even more problems due to
downsisizing of dynamo opperative teams and forced redundancies,
thus igniting the 'great roadies strike' of 1827
and consequent riots.

Such unpredictable embryonic touring technologies
also provoked audience concerns over all too frequent
catestrophic mid concert steam boiler explosions..

These earliest experiments with electric instruments eventually failed..
and were almost forgotten until the resurgence of interest in electronic sound production in the mid 20th century.

most notable pre 2nd world war exponents being Roy Rogers & the Sons of Synthesised Electronica Pioneers.

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Jimmy C
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 10:41 PM

It looks like a nyckelharpa, also known as a keyed fiddle.

Max Wade Matthew's Encylopedia of musical instruments states that these were used throughout Scandavia for popular dance, festive and folk music. 15th century nyckelharpan had between 7 and 12 wooden keys and from 3 to 6 strings, some of which were drones. The oldest surviving nyckelharpan date from the 16th century and are of 2 types. One has an elongated body in the shape of a figure eight, with a flat bottom and flat soundboard. The second type is pear-shaped and the soundboard and neck are made in a single piece. More recently the shape of this type has come to resemble that of the violin family.

A 19th century watercolour by Per Nordquist shows a man playing one, he has it strung over his shoulder similar to a guitar but slanted almost flat like a dobro, the left hand is working the frets while the right hand is bowing

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Jimmy C
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 10:46 PM

Sorry, I meant to add that theinstrument in Nordquist's painting is not as broad as the one in question. It may be a bass model ?.

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: open mike
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 11:17 PM

as a nyckelharpa (or bowed hurdy gurdy) player
I do not think this is one. i do not see any strings.
or tuning pegs which would be needed to tune them.
the keys of a hurdy gurdy extend below the finger
board portion, and this does not have them.
still a mystery.

Subject: RE: Hardy Gardy or what?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 06:36 AM

What is in his right hand definitely goes INSIDE the body of the instrument - it SEEMS to be a rod rather than a typical bow. There seems to be little evidence of strings OUTSIDE the body. The pattern of the 'blocks' on top of the body is interesting, too.

My spelling checker suggests a 'Hardy Gardy' - but I have never heard of THAT before!   ... :-)

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 06:41 AM

is it actually a musical instrument.. ?

could be a photo of a proud inventor waiting outside a patents office
with his revolutionary hand held portable washing machine

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 07:11 AM

The guy holding it has several published songs to his credit, but haven't found out anything else about him. They have some stuff on a University of Texas site that I can't get into.
Giok

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 07:19 AM

If it is a washing machine - I may need to get in contact with him - he probably knows how you keep the water in all those bathtubs they display on the walls and ceiling in my local hardware store.... it would give me lots more room in my bathroom!

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: mooman
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 07:29 AM

I can't find anything quite like it in my selection of musical instrument histories and encyclopaedias but it looks to me it could be some form of keyed dulcimer.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: GUEST,Sarah
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 07:59 AM

I second Open Mike in that this is not a nyckelharpa as I've got one and this doesn't look like it. However, there are similarities at the top end but it looks to have a guitar type body instead of the long thin one that we have now.

Cehers
Sarah

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: John P
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 09:58 AM

What it really looks like is a hurdy gurdy that's been partially disassembled or is still under construction.

John Peekstok

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: MuddleC
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 10:22 AM

you're all wrong.... it's a cunning disguise to fool the revenue men during the prohibition years

it had the added advantage of allowing you to drink at temperance rallies/Salvation Army gatherings whereapon you could pretend to blow into it whilst pumping yourelf a quart!!

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Flash Company
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 10:49 AM

Mr Donniker sure seems old time, reference found to him in 1859.
Doesn't help to identify instrument though, looks like an early Melodica that you pluck instead of blow.

FC

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 02:11 PM

Okay, forget the nyckelharpa idea.

punkfolkrocker, I loved your post!

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Nerd
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 01:49 PM

I think John P may be right. There is nothing to say he is PLAYING the instrument. If he were BUILDING it, then it could be hurdy-gurdy which is not finished.

It looks nothing like a nyckelharpa, by the way...

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 11:24 PM

Quite. And he obviously isn't playing the instrument: he's just holding it.

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 12:28 AM

My guess is the rod he is holding is a plunger that pumps air into the machinery. I think it is a reed organ of some stripe. I see no strings but what could well be stops for pipes or some other air drive sound geberator. And he could well be playing up at that end.

It is all just speculation.


The one certainty is that is the worse fitting overcoat I have ever seen.

Don

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 06:51 AM

Roots Web shows:
John B Donniker, musician, 357 Bedford avenue Brooklyn NY 1888, 1889
Maybe someone could stop by and ask the neighbors if they remember him.


Library of Congress cites, for the Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music Collection, published sheetmusic (copies downloadable) by J. B. Donniker:

Items 1 through 7 of 7
1 Dont go in /
2 Farewell, mother!; or It breaks my heart to leave /
3 Lost and saved /
4 O! Kathleen return to Kildare! /
5 Silver plated men /
6 There's magic in a kiss /
7 Will you love me the same? /

Item 7, Will you love me the same, is dedicated "To Mrs. J. B. Donniker," so one might presume he was a good hard working married man – or loved his mother.

An additional entry at LOC shows the name as Jno B. Donniker. The cover page of the single song, "God Bless the Little Children" shows the same J. B. Donniker as other pieces, but with "Jno B. Donniker" on the first page of the piece. Probably the same person, but with an "Americanization" of the name from whatever "Jno" was to John(?). No publication or copyright date on this one, so can't tell if it was an "early career" piece. (A cultural/ethnic background might suggest where the idea for this instrument came from?)

Note that this LOC site gives some difficulties with downloads. Individual "songs" are sometimes an odd mixture of .jpg, .gif, and .tif on separate pages of the same piece. The .tif generally fail to load and display, but can be accessed by "save target as" and then viewing offline.


University of Texas claims to have three pictures of John B. Donniker in their Minstrel Show Collection. [citation: fc 1.182 Donniker, John B. 3 photos, 1859, nd if you go to Austin]. Access info at UT sites indicates they are only accessible by visiting the university.


Also at U Texas in the Natchez Trace Sheet Music Collection:

NTC Box 30. Blonde That Never Dyes.
Newcomb, Bobby, written by; music by J.B. Donniker. Wm. A. Pond & Co., New York, 1870c. 5 p. Cover title: Songs & Ballads as Sung by Miss Eliza Weathersby; minstrel. Illustration: b & w picture of long haired young woman.

Supplemental info: In the same box in the Natchez Trace Collection:
Buffalo Gals.    unk. Wm. Hall & Son, New York, 1848c. 5 p. Cover title: Campbell's Melodies; Minstrel. Illustration: tri-color lithograph of 5 pictures of dancers in ornate frames, above those are 6 seated men; lith by Sarony & Major.
And:
Down Went McGinty. Flynn, Joseph. Spaulding & Kornder, New York, 1889c. 3 p. Minstrel;...


At Picture History you can get the same picture on a coffee cup, mousepad, or T-shirt. Multiple links to this bunch indicate Donniker in separate collections as "musicians" "performers" "songwriters," etc., but all entries show the same one picture. All sites where I found the picture are "related" to this one. The copy "snatchable" from their sites runs about 11 KB, and they do say that their "for sale" copy is about 240 KB, so it might show sufficient detail to support their assertion that this is a "string instrument," but I'm no really convinced.


One "circus lingo" site purports "the donniker" is a term used for a circus restroom, however there's no indication that "John B." invented it. Search returns for a number of "gay dictionary" sites imply some other possible "meanings." None of few of these sites' "vocabulary pages" I tried was accessible or actually provided any info, so that will remain a mystery.

John

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: GUEST,Nerd
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 09:09 AM

John, you are right on about "Jno." being John. "Jno." for whatever reason was the 18th-19th century abbreviation of "John," much as "Chas." was written for Charles, etc. In the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O'Brien, for example, John Aubrey is called "Jack" but signs his name "Jno. Aubrey."

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: GUEST,Nerd
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 09:15 AM

By the way, I think we may be looking at the back of that instrument. Looking at the headstock, it looks backwards. On the other hand, there does appear to be a visible bridge of some kind. It's very confusing!

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 10:53 AM

Looks to me like he's assembling a particularly strange mannequin for a shop window - and trying to remember where he left the head!

Regards

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 12:13 PM

There were all kinds of strange instruments enjoying brief use and notice in the apparent era of this one. Something to do with the grand "industrial revolution" and the belief that you could make a machine to do (almost) anything better. Many such instruments never had "official" names, although this one looks like it may have been put together by someone with some experience in such devices.

The picture I'm able to steal from the web site simply doesn't have enough pixels to tell whether he's fingering strings with the left hand. There do appear to be rows of "keys" along the top side, which one might presume are meant for playing either separate notes or chords. Each row has about 10 to 14 "keys," so it's possible each row is about 1.5 to 2 octaves diatonic, with separate rows for playing in different keys - or they could just work chord-bars like an autoharp, with the multiple rows giving major/minor/dim chords, etc.

The "pushrod" extending out the bottom could be run through a "crank" mechanism to actuate an internal "bow" or other device to rub (or pluck?) strings, making an "automaton fiddle" or "guitar." Schemes were patented to "relieve the player from having to learn to control the bow," but the implementation of such schemes seldom really worked. It remains a difficult challenge to convert a straight line motion of one part to another straight-line-in-another-direction motion of another connected part. (Mr. Fourier virtually outlawed doing that quite a while back.)

In Donniker's era, it would be very likely that a patent would have been applied for, for an instrument this "creative;" but of course we don't know if he's the inventor - and it's virtually impossible to search patent history by the inventors' names anyway. I would speculate that this instrument was an "invention" of the era, rather than a rare-but-traditional thing.

Vaudeville hall advertising might be the most likely place to find a name for it - if it had one; but I don't know of an accessible collection.

John

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: GUEST,Paranoid Android
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 09:11 PM

It does not appear to have strings so it must be a wind instrument.
Perhaps that rod has a dual function of pumping a bellows AND elongating the neck (similar to a slide trombone movement) which would change the pitch of the "flutes" on the surface while the left hand selects which flute to sound. O.K, O.K., so the man has only two hands!!!

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: open mike
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 09:38 PM

i asked the site, picture history if they knew any thing...
here is their reply:
Your question about the musical instrument inspired us to do more
research on Donniker, but unfortunately did not turn up any information on this instrument.
While 19th-century minstrels used African
instruments associated with African-American
slave music, this does not appear to be one of them.
If your forum makes any discoveries, we would
love to hear about it.


Many thanks,
Picture History


>From: Laurel Paulson-Pierce
>Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 11:16 PM
>To: [e-mail]
>Subject: Item#: MES15135
>
>some of us on a music forum are debating what instrument this is.
>do you have any further info?

the ball is back in our court.

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 10:20 PM

If they can only state the blindingly obvious ("this does not appear to be [an African instrument]") then I doubt if they really have anything useful to say at all. The only way to get further would be to see a higher resolution image; these are available, it seems, at a price.

There are several people here who would be be happy (and able) to help if given adequate background information, but most of us probably aren't interested in paying somebody in order to do them an unpaid favour, however interesting the puzzle might be.

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 11:44 PM

Melophone

G'day all,

This looks like a typical Melophone - a free reed instrument, from mid-19th century, with a huge array of reeds flat-mounted over a wind chest in the upper part of the instrument body - pressurised by a double (-acting) set of bellows operated by the "stirrup" pump he is holding in his right hand.

The Instrument I described for Sydney's Powerhouse Museum had a more complex left hand, with 7 rows of 12 keys running paralle down the "fingerboard". These gave a full octave in each row and the rows ascended in fifths ... giving virtually the full range of the violin family instruments. This may have the same arrangement ... the "pattern" on the lower case is simply sound holes and ventilation.

The Melophone faded out quickly after one of its makers decided it was all much more logical sat in a frame and pumped by foot pedals ... voila! ... the Harmonium.

(Err ... I will get around to finishing my digitising of my photos and description ... for Rich-Joy ... or was that Joybell ... errrr...)

Regard(les),

Bob

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 12:24 AM

G'day again,

I had a better trawl through the preceding 31 posts ... Don Meixner had it pretty right ... but "strings" there are a'plenty - a jungle of fine piano wires under the top layer of the "fingerboard" connects the fine, curved finger buttons to the levers above the reeds in the lower end. The model I described had a 'thumb-lever' on the near side of the "headstock", which 'coupled' in extra reeds an octave lower.

John in Kansas, in his third post, is right in seeing multiple rows of "keys" (10 - 14) ... as I said above, there were 12 on the one I described ... chromatic, not diatonic. This instrument was intended to play the music of the entire range of the violin family! ... essentially the same range (and similar tonality) as the home harmonium that replaced it.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 04:43 AM

Sounds good to me, well done Bob Bolton down there on the underneath of the world.
Thanks
Giok

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 07:55 AM

Bob Bolton -

I think you're probably right about calling it a melophone, but I'm not sure how much help that is. This name was apparently applied to several "rare" instruments, and while it may have been the name always applied to this one looking for "melophone" brings up a lot more of the "other ones" - and effectively no significant info on this one - except that "something" exists/existed.

A Google search for "melophone" gets about 95% of hits refering to the "left handed french horn" used in marching bands. The alternate spelling "mellophone" is 100% this instrument, so I suspect that "melophone" is a misspelling in this case.

After eliminating the "tenor bugles," 95% of the remaining hits are reference to "melophone voice" pipes in pipe organs, typically 8-foot range, but with a couple of rare 4-footers.

That leaves about 0.2% (0.75 real hits out of the first 300 I looked at) that may possibly refer to this instrument. Actually, I found about 5 hits, each with about a 0.1% possibility that this is what they referred to.

And I forgot to deduct the hits like: "Melophone" - a brand name for a portable phonograph produced ca. 1916.
263 Machines and their makers, a sub-page of Tim Gracyk's Articles About Phonographs and Old Records
The "Melophone portable phonograph" originally sold for $30 US, and at least one is now available at 290 €.

Several "accordion" sites mention the name, but none that I found gives a description or picture.

Musée de l'accordéon reports including "melophones" in their accordeon museum, but doesn't deliberately provide any images of individual instruments. At the sub-page Exhibits what may be the museum room that includes "Ingenious systems: The melophone, the harmoniflute, the foot bass and the Barbary Coast organ" the bottom picture may be one of these, most likey the "foot bass." The instrument pictured vaguely suggests the one we're looking for but is apparently somewhat larger.

At least one "organ museum guide" page makes reference to a "Melophone (Gitarrenharmonium)" but the page is illegible – and the url doesn't indicate any "structure" permitting a jump to higher level pages that might have decipherable info.

Taxonomy of Musical Instruments identifies the "melophone" as a "free reed Aerophone" and in a second tabulation at the bottom of the page, as:

"handblown + Keyboard/Frets, Chromatic Accordion in the form of a cello/guitar."

No indication of what one might do with frets on an accordion; but this does sound like it might describe the instrument.

Numerous references to "The young melophone virtuoso Giulio Regondi (1822 - 1872)," in the context of his later career with concertina, but I can't find whether this is the "melophone=tenor cornet" or the "melophone=accordion."

CIMCIMINTERNATIONAL DIRECTORY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENT COLLECTIONS: UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

Shows that the museum at:
LIVERPOOL, Merseyside
Liverpool Museum, Decorative Arts Department, William Brown Street, Liverpool, Merseyside L3 8EN.
County museum with a musical instruments collection.
Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone].
Governing organization: National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside.
Primary responsibility: Curator of Costume and Textiles.
Open: 10-17 M-Sa, 14-17 Su. The collection is currently in storage; access by appointment only.

Indicates the collection includes: "8 free-reed instruments: 4 accordions, melophone, A. Brown, Paris, ca. 1840; 3 harmoniums."

This really is the only "hard" evidence I found that someone may know details of what "the free-reed instrument called a melophone" might look like. It's likely the name is well enough known among nipple-nippers, but apparently the real world doesn't penetrate their subculture to sufficient extent to have much information readily accessible. I hadn't realized they were so "cultish."

With some evidence at hand that it's "just another accordion" the subject likely can be laid aside. But the reference to frets...?????

John

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 08:19 AM

I wouldn't fret about it John!

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 09:19 AM

G'day John,

I was aware of other melophones, but this Mélophone is fairly well known ... and described in Groves' Dictionary of Music (this from ed. 6 or 7 ... ?):

Mélophone. A portable free-reed instrument shaped like a guitar, harp or cello with a keyboard and bellows (see illustration). It is 80 to 130 cm high and 32 to 65 cm wide, and is played resting on the right thigh; the right hand works the handle (archet) of the bellows, which can produce a vibrato effect on all notes and a trumpet-like tone in certain registers. The left hand works the 40 to 84 keys, some with octave couplings, controlling a range of three to five octaves. The mélophone was invented in 1837 by a Parisian watchmaker, Leclerc, whose instruments were made in Paris by A. Brown.

In 1842 C. A. Pellerin and François Durbain obtained licences to manufacture it; Durbain subsequently developed the harmonium, which eventually superseded the mélophone. According to Galpin (Grove 5) the mélophone was 'introduced by Halévy into one of his operas'. Examples of the instrument are in the Instruments Museum of the Brussels Conservatory and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

                           STEPHEN BONNER

The instrument I photographed (quite similar to that illustrated in Groves) and described in 1985 (along with recent Mudcatter Squeeze Me) was serial number 23 from the workshop of A Brown (well ... one stamp still says: LeClerc & Brown - Paris ... but the other has LeClerc's name scratched out and above it (under the lid of the top case) is written, in ink:

A Brown.
Fabricant, Brèveté.
20 Rue des Fosses du Temple.
= Paris

Presumably, after making 22 of of these fiendish devices, Brown had quarrelled with Le Clerc!

The instrument in the Powerhouse Museum does not have the odd pattern of air/soundholes seen in Jno. Donniker's model ... but a simple "guitar-shaped" top case in spruce, or similar, with two 'f-holes' - plus some 30 fretted sound holes eveny spaced around the top of the case's (possibly maple ... ?) sides.

I don't run to a web site, but I can email some images to anyone who wishes further details (PM me with an appropriate address).

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 07:48 AM

G'day again John,

I had a look through a few other musical dictionaries / the Oxford Companion to Music ((the old 1-volume Percy Scholes version) and the Oxford Dictionary. In all cases the Mélophone they cite is the instrument I have described ... as are several of those you cite above. The "accordion" references are mostly following Scholes and OED in considering it to be "an instrument of the accordion class", despite the concealed bellows. Scholes has Mélophone as a headword ... but only refers you on to "The Reed Organ Familiy" and a mention of the Mélophone as an ancestor of Durbain's Harmonium.

The "frets" referred to in one of your entries are probably a misunderstanding of the cross-patterns of the rows of finger buttons on the "fingerboard" - these were shallow arcs on the one I described and appear as tight 'ranks' across the neck.

The "Melophone (Gitarrenharmonium)" is another obvious description of this instrument.

Although I was personally aware that one or more brass instruments also had been called "melophones" - and, undoubtedly, many other 19th century musical instruments or players - since the word simply means (~) "sweet sound" ... the only printed references I have found are all to the instrument of LeClerc's design.

(I have no knowledge of your "nipple-nippers", or their associated cults ... I'm just a musician, interested in our [Australian] Colonial period.)

Regard(les)s,

Bob

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: GUEST,Sarah
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:11 AM

Quote from Bob's post: "the free-reed instrument called a melophone" might look like. It's likely the name is well enough known among nipple-nippers, but apparently the real world doesn't penetrate their subculture to sufficient extent to have much information readily accessible. I hadn't realized they were so "cultish."

Is this a reference to responses from Open Mike and I saying it wasn't a nyckelharpa? If so, how does that make us 'cultish'? We play nyckelharpas amongst other instruments so we know what that particular instrument looks like!

Can't understand the need to make such a negative statement.

Cheers
Sarah

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: Noreen
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:45 AM

Concentrate, Sarah- that quote was from John's post, not Bob's, and I can see no reason for you thinking it was directed at you or open mike.
nipple-nippers are presumably accordions or their players- are you one?!

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: GUEST,Sarah
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 09:00 AM

My apologies Bob for assuming too much and John for me miss-reading his post.

Cheesy grin!

PS Thanks Noreen for putting me right.

Cheers
Sarah

Subject: RE: Hurdy Gurdy or what?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:24 PM

It happens every time I try to make a smart-ass joke...

The stuff I found trying to use Google just illustrates that Google doesn't penetrate well, or very deeply, into the "knowledge" that's available. If it's not "pop culture" supported by the rabble, it won't get enough hits (or links) to come up without more intensive searching than I did. Unfortunately, one must eliminate the surface junk in order to find where to redirect the search in many cases.

An interesting(?) side note is that nearly half of the hits for "Melophone" are blogs by teenagers. The bugle version is apparently popular among the geeks of the high school marching bands. (note: that's another joke.)

John