Thumb piano
Michael van pelt
Anyone ever build a thumb piano? I need a quality source for the works.
Thanks
Thumb piano
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Re: Thumb piano
#2Re: Thumb piano
William Duffield
John Aniano has built them.
Parts may be available from St. James Bay Tool Company.
Re: Thumb piano
#3Re: Thumb piano
John K Jordan
Maybe ask Sir Google for thumb piano kit. I saw a number of links but just checked one.
https://www.harpkit.com/thumb-piano-kit
I've had a thumb piano for decades. I once started making one with some strips of spring steel but I didn't have enough steel for the scale. My grandson and I made a simple one from strips of dogwood but of course it didn't resonate well! Good fun though.
If you can get the spring steel the construction should be simple. Mine is just a mild steel rod drilled with two holes, a small diameter brass rod, a flat wood sound board, and a small piece of wood with square grooves to hold the other pieces in place with two screws.
JKJ
Re: Thumb piano
#4Re: Doh! Piano, Not Plane
William Duffield
I've got to clean some of the sawdust off of my glasses or my laptop screen or both. Sorry for the wild goose chase.
Re: Thumb piano
#5Re: Doh! Piano, Not Plane
Michael van pelt
Thank you! Do you remember when Saturday Night Live was funny? “Never mind”! Lol!
Re: Thumb piano
#6OK, Y'all led me to another rabbit hole, so *LINK*
Keith Newton
I was looking at your post thinking I ought to try that and wondered if there would be a way to bend the notes like is common in playing the blues. So I went to google for help and watched how to set up the keys and tune them. I was wondering about making the little brass rod moveable, but then thought that probably wearing a long socket on a finger might allow the player to do it from the top.
As I scrolled down through the links I came across this guy that has taken this simple instrument WAY BEYOND what I was thinking. Looks like he was using off the shelf electrical bus bars to hold the individual keys.
Last time I was down in my hometown there was a new antique store that I visited. On the way out I noticed a washboard in the window. For some reason it caught my attention and I almost went back in to get it. Seems like that might make a good soundboard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qluFwfG67_Y