[David Colpitts]

Thank you for the kind words, Daren. When I get some better, I’ll post another sample. Right now, I am taking comfort in the obvious (to me, anyway) truth that the Janko keyboard will cut to literally one twelfth (!) the time I need to play in all keys. It’s magic, for an old man who only plays “key of C” on a normal keyboard. I hope you do try one, but it would be perhaps redundant for you, since you have already mastered the standard keyboard, and then some! Thanks again.

[David Colpitts]

This is my most recent conversion. 32 key Yamaha, with 5 rows. Row 5 useful only in emergencies or as guidance for chord placement isomorphism, but 3 rows are great and row 4 “good.” Learned a lot this time, as always. I’ll try a sound post next wee,/

[David Colpitts]

Thanks! That’s what I’ll do. Halfway through the Yamaha 32 key, and wishing I’d sprung for a 37 key. Maybe next!

[David Colpitts]

Thanks! I certainly will. I don’t think I’ve ever posted a video here; is there an “attachment” button, or do I need to “link”?

[David Colpitts]

Hello, Janko melodica folks. I have just returned to the Janko obsession, after making a truly successful conversion of a small MIDI controller for my iPad musical play. It reminded me of the melodicas I converted some 4 years ago, and made me ready to start the next project, which is a Yamaha 32 key. This week! And, I have further refined the “Jancolpitts” method, which is simple, takes less time than my first attempts, does not involve opening the case at all, adds slight weight, and could honestly be done so as to not void the manufacturer’s warranty! Oh, and might be done for $20-40 US dollars, depending upon your design choices and what’s already at hand But I rant….I’ve a button-swap planned for the second melodica, and then the new project. But I will try to post a short video, for “proof of concept” on the whole idea.

[David Colpitts]

Hi, Steve. Just checking if my emails got to you?

David

[David Colpitts]

Is there no personal messaging on this site? I am not completely comfortable posting emails on public forum sites. If you are, I’ll gladly email you directly. Or, the squeeze-box sites, maybe?

Thanks.

David

[David Colpitts]

Hello, Steve. I have been busy with other projects, and not checking here for a year….I am happy to see you have finished and are bringing to market your elegant keyboard options. As a hacker who glues shirt buttons onto craft sticks and then to the melodica keys, I appreciate your attention to detail and precision. Are you shipping now, if you get a keys-only order?

Regards,

David

[David Colpitts]

Hello. This reply, although belated, is aimed at Pal and Kevin, and all interested in Janko keyboard melodicas. Yes, I have converted two, and am nearly ready to do #3. I have some trouble with this site software (I am sure due to my own novice level) and can’t really get pictures. Right now, the second iteration looks almost like a viable design, and it plays easily. My purpose for the whole initiative is to provide myself (and maybe some others, if there’s interest)a “uniform” or “isomorphic” keyboard, like Janko, or Hayden Duet, or some few others. The second version does that, and needs some cosmetic work to make it really presentable. I also used a very inexpensive Amazon melodica for the donor, and it is quite acceptable for what it is. If this virus-caused “quarantine” gives me the time to figure out a simple (YouTube?) way to share pix and sound, then I’ll do it. I have spent most of my discretionary musical practice time lately on the Hayden duet concertina, which is identical to Janko save for being cut up into more rows, for a compact compass, vs. the longer, linear one of a melodica.

Regards,

David

[David Colpitts]

I am new to the instrument, and am interested mainly because it offers the free-reed sound with the full chromaticity of the piano keyboard. All my other instruments are diatonic, and this will open other keys to me. However, I am obsessed with the Janko conversions I have done; I will try to find a way to send sound links for all to hear, once I have another month or so under my belt.

David

[David Colpitts]

I have a lo-re pic to post….

Thanks for the feedback, and I’d love to hear from anyone who is doing or contemplating something similar.

BTW, where do I do picture post….I don’t see it.

[David Colpitts]

Hi, folks. I am a newbie here and at the melodica (40 year old Hohner student models aside.) I actually bought one (the little Yamaha 25) for experimental modification to a Janko keyboard, and used the two available YouTube “builds” for inspiration. Actually, I settled on the “Instructable” (with the pennies as keys) and whacked away at it. After about 6 hours of work (and 6 more staring at it) I got the prototype working this morning. I was put off by the multi-layered/stepped rows, and thought it would be fragile and hard to pack. Coincidentally, I got buttons as keys, rather than pennies, so I could get black and white. Lo and behold, they (mostly) fit between the wooden added key strips, which lets me have a virtually flat keyboard hardly deeper than the original. I made some correctable woodworking errors, but am thrilled with the results. I will post a picture once I have returned to the button store for more, so my patterns are as they should be. BTW, it’s three rows, and I think it will be durable. Lost one spring….any ideas? Am using ballpoint spring in emergency. Now, the idea of multiple keys with identical fingering literally wakes me up early. The disease begins.

Regards,

David

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