[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1igtpxpDjM[/youtube]

The best way to know of a new invention is to ask the one who made it, So I did and this is what Aaron/Shadarko ) said of his wonderful Phonocrank.

The History of the Phonocrank:

Thanks for asking about the Phonocrank. I had been dressing steam punk for years before I knew there were anyone else like me. I had also been interested in old things, be it old radios, old tools, old photographs, you name it, if it was old, I pretty much loved it. I am very reluctant to move on to newer things. It was only recently I got an mp3 player, a cell phone, or a lap top. One of the reasons I love the idea of steam punk is, it’s not a denial of today’s technology. Rather its the idea of incorporating either an artistic flair missing in today design, or using alternative technology that can exist into day’s world. The project leading up to the Phonocrank was the Iphonograph. At roughly the same time that Herr Dokter was creating his gramophone styled speakers. I was working on the same idea for my mp3 player. It’s all well and good to use the modern tech, but a pair of speakers just look boring and bland. I wanted something that would go with the rest of my house. The first Iphonograph was a small music box shaped like a phonograph. Add speakers and done. The horn allowed the music to have a great old time sound, using the horn for what it was meant for. I created several more iphonographs of various sizes for myself and friends. The whole time something was nagging me.

Last winter, a group in San Francisco, the Transtagonist, had a crazy marching band of made up instruments that traveled through the Mission district. I brought my an instrument I made and no idea how to play. It sounded horrible but it was incredibly fun. Then I realized what I was missing in my life, the ability to play portable music. Well I could learn how to play an actual instrument, which I have tried unsuccessfully for the past 29 years. I could just carry around an Iphonograph, but that felt like cheating.

Flash to another one of my loves, the street organ. I love the idea of turning a crank and pre-made music is played. That was it! That’s what I needed to make…

only I had no idea how to make one. After researching it, I realized I had no where near the mad abilities to create a functioning street organ with full bellows. I started to research if there were any mp3 players that worked with a crank, but at the time no one had one, or had one that was cheap enough that I felt I could crack open and scoop out the needed bits. At this time I ran across Nick Williams (fairgroundorgan.com) who is now one of my inventer heroes. He’s a young man who loves busker street organs, and fixes them up. He’s also created an amazing electric mp3 busker organ. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=2zzwVsa1aC4) This was almost the idea of what I wanted. But again, the technology to new. I looked into the idea of creating records and making a portable crank record player, again, technology beyond me. I was stymied for a bit and then it hit me, cassette tape! They’re easily recordable, play back is simple, and they’re cheap.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HF6pXcoYYc[/youtube]

I was pretty amazed how fast I had forgotten about cassette tapes. I had even thought about 8 track as a possibility before I went to cassette tape. Just shows how a technology becomes so ingrained in society that you don’t even think about it. Or how easily it was forgotten now that we’re, what, two generations away from them, cd, now mp3?

Next came the search for a cassette tape player that could be played back hand powered. I was very adamant I wanted it to be something I cranked. One, I simply love anything with a crank, and two, it makes me an active participant of the creation of the music, not just the guy who pushes play. There are a few places you can get a hand crank cassette tape player, sometimes they show up on eBay. I got mine from a missionary organization originally for a friend, but ended up keeping myself. The one I used is called a Tape Talk 2, it was the most expensive part of the whole project at thirty dollars.

I’m sure there is a way to convert an ordinary cassette tape player. Originally I was playing with the idea of disconnecting the battery pack and attaching it to a hand crank flashlight, but then the Tape Talk showed up.

I have scores of incredibly musically talented friends. Now I have something that makes music when I turn a crank. It’s not a musical instrument per say but it still makes music, which is something I can’t do myself. Now I am ready for the next street fair, or parade though the city. A dream I have to play a creepy creepy French accordion on a foggy night around 3/4am and just go for a walk playing the phonocrank.

What is the Phonocrank made of:

The major part of the phonocrank is a hand crank powered cassette tape I was able to get from a missionary group who need them when they’re out in places with no available electricity.

The original crank was a small plastic nub of a crank which would not be big enough or stylish enough for what I needed so I took it off and replaced it with first a copper piping rigged crank. It wasn’t centered or long enough so it was replaced with a wooden crank which I still might replace with a coffee mill crank I came across the other day at a yard sale.

The rest of the body is an assortment of bits and pieces I found mostly at Scrap (Scrap-Sf.org) a non profit scavenger’s gold mine in San Francisco. The body is a wine box from 1979 stained, the legs are from an old chair, also stained. The strap is from an old lap top carrier. The front speaker grate is from an old cheese shaker. The ornamental wood bits had been lying around waiting for some type of use.

There are two speakers attached to the inside of the body. One leads to the horn, and one leads to the grate in the front. The cassette tape player is mono so it only plays through the horn, but with the volume control and horn amplification qualities it’s more then enough sound (most of the time I end up having to turn it down). The two speakers are for when I use the Phonocrank as an iphonograph. Unplug the speakers from the cassette tape player and attach an mp3 player and you’ve got the bad assiest portable speakers anywhere.

The sexiest part of the whole phonocrank is the horn. I found it on eBay. Someone was selling a non working phonograph. I honestly just wanted the horn, but at the price of twenty bucks for the whole thing I grabbed it. Turns out the gears are just filthy and need cleaning. So the horn on the phonocrank is removable so it can be used for both, it, and the phonograph.

I found a great place to get music at (http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/index.php) I download the mp3 files, set up a play list, hook up a tape recorder to the lap top and push play, and record and walk away. When I come back I have a tape ready to go with music. I also keep a small mp3 player inside the body of the Phonocrank with the same music so if I get tired of turning the crank, I can continue to play music.

What’s next for projects:

Though I love my Phonocrank, and I think it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever made it is a bit big. The next plan is to make a smaller version with a smaller horn that is a little lighter.