Ugears 3D: Mechanical Celesta

Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. As Julie Andrews said in the Sound of Music, "once you have these notes in your heads you can sing a million different tunes by mixing them up." Ugears is proud to introduce the second DIY musical instrument in our collection—the Mechanical Celesta. Like the Ugears Hurdy-Gurdy, the Mechanical Celesta is both a wooden mechanical model and a functional musical instrument. This special musical model is a simpler version of a pianola, and includes elements of a piano, a music box, and a xylophone. There are two modes of playing the instrument: you can use the keys to strike the metal plates, producing musical notes over an octave range, from C to C, or you can "pre-program" the instrument by composing a melody on the player piano drum, then play it by turning the knob!

When you buy the Mechanical Celesta by Ugears and start to assemble it, you will find that the instructions show how to install the programming pins using the Carol of the Bells melody as an example. And it's not only because Christmas is coming. On October 5 this year it will be 100 years since the premiere of "Shchedryk" by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych at Carnegie Hall. Today it’s known to the whole world as Carol of the Bells. The song sounds great when performed on your Mechanical Celesta by Ugears. This centennial is why we released the model this year and why it's so special to us.

Thanks to the Mechanical Celesta's ease of use, even the smallest child or those without any prior musical knowledge can begin to play music, by striking the keys or turning the crank to produce pre-programmed melodies. In "manual mode" when you press a key, the hammer strikes the plate and the sound of the corresponding note is heard. In "programmed melody mode" you arrange a series of boards along a rotating drum, then turn the drum as pins on each board trigger the hammers to strike the right notes.

This fun DIY musical model / 3D puzzle consists of 573 pieces and promises 8 hours of enjoyable assembly time. The Mechanical Celesta is rated "intermediate" difficulty. In addition to laser pre-cut high quality plywood boards, the model kit also includes cotton ropes, wooden balls and metal plates. To assemble, follow the detailed, illustrated instructions available in 11 languages (Ukrainian, English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean). You don't need glue or special tools to assemble your Mechanical Celesta. Everything you need to build your functional musical instrument comes right in the box.