What is the Music Box?

So, it was a dream I had to create something like this back in 2015! I saw people making their own music by punching holes into these strips and playing them through a 30-note music box unit that I found on a cool online shop. My motivation is a bit like mad science - I want to do something weird and different nobody’s thought of before, and so far, I’ve not seen anyone else mount a music box on a guitar and wind it in time, live with a loop pedal!

Music BoxI first made a little lullaby song, Ben's Song, and it took soooo long. I ended up finding some software that helps compose this that allows you to import and export midi - it’s a bit fiddly, but you can print out compositions that make it a teeny bit easier to punch in the right place. Regardless, it always takes hours and it’s easy to make a mistake. It’s art, so it’s worth it!

I tried so many ways of sticking it on the guitar - I originally had a blend pickup, but the mic kept feeding back because I needed a high volume to pick up the music box, which I’d stuck on the guitar with superglue. I tried tonnes of ways but ended up mounting it on a bit of wood on the guitar with a pickup underneath, and this kinda worked better - I could start to play it live, but I still had some sound issues, although it worked ok. See it in action on Changed.

I realised that the quality of the music box was a little naff, so I went through a couple before I found a higher-quality one with copper gears, which I now use. I ended up getting a higher quality pickups and built a new wooden mount and ended up with 2 jack outputs that I switch between with the loop pedal, and I use a compressor to boost the signal, which is a recent addition!

Update May 2026: I've just made a video of composing, preparing and trying out a new instrumental music box song called Opus Mecanica I that you can preview below in this little tutorial video...

A couple of my other favourite music box songs if you want to listen:

New songs releasing soon!