How to make a celesta

An overview of the construction of a 3-octave celesta using old piano parts. It was made at home without fancy equipment or particular skills, just by looking closely at pictures and experimenting / making mistakes. Who knows it could be useful to other diy instrument makers.

[@smftavarium]

This was super useful for me, thank you

[@noorderveld]

Glad to hear!

[@gm3087]

Complimenten! dat heb je mooi gemaakt 👍

[@noorderveld]

Bedankt!

[@lysistrata22]

This is beyond impressive, it sounds extremely good! Did you build something like this before? How long did it take you? And do you do this for a living or just as a hobby? I would love to build a celesta, but I wouldn't even know where to start!

[@noorderveld]

Thanks you! I didn’t know where to start either, just gathered some materials and started to try. It took me half a year, on and off, next to the regular job.

[@lysistrata22]

​@@noorderveldnice job! Can I ask you, how did you determine the length of the lower notes that were weighted with brass? And how did you know how much brass to use? Once the brass is soldered on, you can't shorten the plates, no?

[@noorderveld]

Good question! I weighed the brass blocks and took off the same weight of the plate ends. Then I first attached them with some glue to check. If it proved too high I used it for the higher note, by filing off some brass.