[Gh0stC0de]

I’m gathering my materials, the sides of this piece will be 1/4″ zebrawood, and the front and back panels will be 1/8″ Wenge. I’ll be using 1/2″ and 3/4″ brass wood screws, Sugru moldable waterproof glue, boiled linseed oil, a 61/2 trombone mouthpiece, two 1/4″ rubber grommets (one for the mouthpiece aperture and one to align the spit valve), two mushroom head guitar strap pegs, and a 3 lead piezoelectric pickup.

I’ll have to wait a bit for the wood to come in via UPS, so in the meantime I will cut patterns out of cheap luan plywood from Home Depot. I’ll post the cheaper mockup pictures once they’re made.

I have found that a long leather camera strap can keep the melodica around your neck ready to play, if using guitar strap pegs.

I have discovered a unique new spit valve solution for this particular model setup, based upon the ideas given to me above in this thread. Essentially, I have created a crude molded plastic casing to go around the entire valve mechanism, which has a funnel bottom and can be securely affixed, via silicone joint tape, to a length of clear surgical tubing which runs to the bottom of the instrument, where it can drain out from a hole lined with a grommet into which the silicone tube is affixed via adhesive. In this way, I can use the existing button to drain it. In the final iteration of wenge and zebrawood, I will sand down the domed plastic valve button to a flat surface and epoxy a small semiprecious cabochon to it to serve as the new button top.

[Gh0stC0de]

My Yamaha just came in the mail yesterday evening, along with the trombone mouthpiece, guitar strap pegs, and piezoelectric pickups I had ordered for the project. All that’s left is sourcing the wood and measuring out a design. I’ll post progress here once I start actually routing wood pieces out.

Alan, I’ll see how much justice I can do my new Yamaha before I inquire further about the Kawai-25.

[Gh0stC0de]

Thanks for the feedback, Daren! Your #D printed Melodica is an amazing piece of work, I’m a fan! Do you recall the name of the Hohner models that have the moisture release running to the end of the instrument like you mentioned? I’ll look one over and take cues from it.

Alan, what are the measurements on the Kawai 25-A? I have some very nice quality cigar boxes that may fit them, with the addition of a piezoelectric pickup and some guitar strap mushroom pegs it could be a fun project to tackle before the longer process of fabricating a housing from stock wood, seeing as the cigar boxes are already made and just need cutting and drilling.

[Gh0stC0de]

Thanks for all of this information! I decided to look into the Yamaha models on your advice. Lo, and behold, I found an amazingly detailed and incredibly helpful amazon review written by… Alan Brinton! The pictures of the disassembled instrument were exceedingly helpful. I see where I can affix this to a wooden casing with a slightly oversized resonating chamber, and where I can machine a spit valve to operate properly without interfering with my planned placement of the piezoelectric pickups. I’m excited to start getting machine to wood on this later this month!

[Gh0stC0de]

As a followup question, can anyone point me toward a model melodica that is easy to re-case? That is to say, I take out the outer housing and still play the melodica, thus guaranteeing it’s ability to play will not be impaired by the operation?

I have all the parts for my planned construction headed to me via amazon, and will post pictures here when I have finished my prototype.

[Gh0stC0de]

Thanks for the reply, Alan! That Cigar box model is pretty interesting, I hadn’t seen it!

You’re likely correct on swapping the casing to another model being ill advised. I am just loath to take apart a nicer model and possibly harm it with my first attempts.

Instead, I have decided to make a prototype out of pine or basswood with a 3D printed trumpet mouthpiece, of which I have several lying around. I can measure out, laser cut and engrave the case without much work, and then fit the Study 32 internals and plastic mouthpiece into it. I’ll likely leave some extra room for resonance. Then I’ll have a prototype made of cheap materials, and the patterns already made. If it works, I can purchase a nicer model and edit the case parameters accordingly to fit the internals, before repeating the process with more luxurious materials. I’ll likely go with zebra wood.

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