Barrel Organ For Sale

By Author: timoharper
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A barrel organ, also known as a roller organ, is a mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of pipes housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated. Now you know, a barrel organ for sale is available. Though the basic principle of the barrel organ is the same as a traditional pipe organ, the barrel organ is activated either by a person turning a crank, or by clockwork driven by weights or springs rather than being played by an organist.

The pieces of music are encoded onto wooden barrels or cylinders using metal pins and staples, which are analogous to the keyboard of the traditional pipe organ. Pins are used for short notes, and staples of varying lengths for longer notes. Each of these barrels carry several different tunes. The size of the barrel varies depending on the number of notes in the organ and the length of the tune to be played. The more notes, the longer the barrel. The longer the tune, the greater the diameter of the barrel. Using one barrel will produce only a pre defined tunes as the music is hard-coded onto the barrel and if we want to play a different ...
... set of tunes, the barrel has to be replaced.

Though a single barrel can only play some pre defined music, different tunes can be played from one barrel by moving the barrel laterally to bring a different set of pins and staples under the keys. Usually, a street barrel organs play 7 to 15 tunes.

The barrel organ was the traditional instrument of organ grinders and they used one of the smaller, more portable versions of the barrel organ that could only play 7 to 9 tunes. Use of these organs were limited by their weight. Most weighed 25 to 50 pounds and some may weigh as heavy as 100 pounds.

Larger versions of barrel organ can be found in churches, fairgrounds, music halls, and other large establishments such as sports arenas and theaters. They are powered by very heavy weights and springs or even sometimes, hydraulically powered with a turbine or waterwheel arrangement giving the mechanical force to turn the barrel and pump the bellows. The last barrel organs were electrically powered, or converted to electrical power. With time, because of the complexity in operation, large barrel organs had their barrel actions removed and were converted to play a different other format of music like cardboard books or paper rolls. An original barrel organ for sale is available and can be yours to make a precious collectors piece.

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