The mechanical string musical instrument “Piano Melodico” is mounted on the top panel of a wooden pedestal cabinet with hinged doors. The cabinet, featuring massive wooden carrying handles on its sides, stands on low turned legs. The doors are paneled, with profiled moldings and shaped metal overlays over the keyholes. The panels and the frieze above the doors are decorated with carved inscriptions in German, surrounded by floral ornament. The musical instrument, containing a soundboard, a cast metal frame with strings, and a hammer mechanism, is built into a rectangular case veneered with light wood species and finished with transparent polish. The top of the case is covered with a panel featuring shaped slots lined with fabric from the inside, along with guide bars for the perforated music roll. The right part of the case houses a device for reading the perforated roll and controlling the hammers, control handles, and a tape-drive mechanism located beneath a hinged wooden bar. The cardboard perforated music roll, folded in book format, is pulled between two rollers—a rubberized drive roller and a wooden pressure roller—and is pressed against a row of 30 rocking reading levers, corresponding to the number of notes. The rotation of the drive roller causes the roll to move, while the rocking of the bar with the hammers causes them to vibrate and strike the strings. Only those hammers whose reading levers drop into the perforations of the roll vibrate and produce sound. Levers pressed down by the roll block the hammers, and the corresponding strings remain silent. A specific feature of the instrument is that all pieces are performed with a tremolo effect. The mechanism is driven by a spring motor located in the right compartment of the pedestal, while the shelves of the left compartment store interchangeable perforated rolls. The motor spring is wound using a handle. Music medium: cardboard perforated music roll folded in book format.

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