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Robin! I pick out a music boxDo you have that?

Frequently Asked Questions & Contact Form

Are there music boxes currently in stock?

Open Days in Utrecht:

I am open twice a week at a beautiful location in the heart of Utrecht. There is a wide choice of music boxes available for direct sale. View the agenda for all dates.

Stock in the workshop:

Due to the many orders, there is no stock present in the workshop.

Other sales points

There are a number of sales places in the Netherlands where you can buy the music boxes. They usually have a very limited stock of especially small music boxes. Click here for an overview of these sales spots.

What are the shipping times and costs?

Delivery times and shipping costs per country/region

The expected delivery date is stated on the product page of each music box.

Note: With engraving + a maximum of 5 days extra delivery time.

Pick up in Utrecht (NL)

During checkout you can also choose to pick up instead of shipping.

You can pick up in the shop on Friday and Saturday 14-17 pm in the center of Utrecht (Donkerstraat 21). Or by appointment in the workshop at Europalaan 41

The Netherlands.

Delivery with The Bicycle Courier , DHL & PostNL (gift letter is sent for free)

5,50 € (Letterbox package) 4-6 days

8,25 € (Packet service) 4-6 days

RUSH DELIVERY:

16,95 euro. (Courier) 1-2 days> if in stock & without engraving

[Urgent delivery with engraving = 2 days extra delivery time!]

Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg

12,00 € (Regular Post / Courier) 4-6 working days

26,00 € (express service) 1 Business Days

Denmark, France, Austria, United Kingdom

15,50 € (Regular Post / Courier) 4-6 working days

30,25 € (Express Services) 1-2 business days

Hungary, Portugal, Sweden

16,95 € (Regular Post / Courier) 4-6 working days

18,50 € (Regular Post / Courier) 4-6 working days

32,50 € (express service) 1-2 business days

Italyë, Poland

18,00 € (Regular Post / Courier) 4-6 business days

30,25 € (express service) 1-2 business days

Europe other countries

18,00 to 29,00 euros (Regular Post / Courier) 4-6 working days

35,00 € (express service) 1-3 business days

You can also use the shipping calculator in the shopping basket to calculate the shipping costs.

Worldwide

Worldwide shipping is VAT free with regular mail or Express service. Please note that you may have to pay import duties (TAX).

United States, Canada, Mexico

27,00 € (Regular Mail) 7-25 working days depending on destination

59,00 € (express service) 1-3 working days depending on destination

Asia, Australia, New Zealand

30,00 € (Regular Mail) 7-25 working days depending on destination

65,00 € (express service) 1-3 working days depending on destination

Other countries worldwide

35,00 € (Regular Mail) 7-25 working days depending on destination

75,00 € (express service) 2-4 working days depending on destination

You can also use the shipping calculator in the shopping basket to calculate the shipping costs.

All prices including 21% VAT if applicable.

Can I have my own melody made?

If you have your own composition that you would like to have on mechanics, or a piece of music that does not yet exist on mechanics, then there are the following options:

Small winding mechanism with 18 notes

You can have your own melody made based on a music fragment (eg from You Tube movie) for each music box made for small winding mechanism (18 tones). On the product page of the chosen box, choose the option 'melody' > 'Custom Tune', and follow the instructions. Costs: 200 euros (this is on top of the price of the box) Delivery time: 2 months. Choose a box

If you are going to make the arrangement yourself, keep the following in mind:

Large manual mechanism to program yourself

Another possibility is a 'make your own melody' set. If you are musically inclined you can make your own melody with the punch pliers and the supplied paper strip. This mechanism has 20 or 30 tones and a very nice warm sound. It is manual, which means that you have to keep running to let it play. On this website, the mechanism is available both separately and with a wooden sound box. Here for sale

Large runs for small mechanics with 18 tones.

The small machine heads with a self-supplied melody can also be made in large quantities: From 1000 pieces the price per hand mechanism is approximately 2,50 ex. VAT. plus 250 euro development costs and shipping costs (varies) Delivery time: approximately 8 weeks. For wind-up machine heads (18 tones), the minimum order is 250 pieces and the price is approximately 10 euros ex. VAT per piece. Delivery time: 8 weeks. (prices are only for the machine heads, without wooden sound box)

Large winding mechanism with custom melody

For a large, luxurious mechanism with 30 tones, it is possible to have an arrangement made of a piece of music that you supply yourself. This can be an audio file, (you tube) video or sheet music. Ideally both audio / video + sheet music. The mechanism fits a maximum of 35 seconds. So indicate with your application exactly which piece it is of a maximum of 35 seconds.

Costs: 250 euros (excluding music box). Only possible in combination with a music box for luxury mechanics. If you are interested, please contact Rob or order a music box directly. On the product page you can choose the last option 'Custom Tune' at 'Melody' and fill in the details. In the webshop menu, go to music boxes 'Met Luxemechaniek'. The delivery time for this music box with its own melody is approximately 8 weeks.

Can I supply wood myself?

It is possible to supply your own wood to make several music boxes. But it must meet a number of conditions, so that the wood is usable for me. In most cases, the price per box is the same as the prices in the webshop.

Conditions for supplying wood:

– SAW PLANKS (so no logs, wood slices)
– FREE OF cracks and large knots (small knots allowed)
– DRY WOOD with a maximum of 15% moisture **

– FREE OF metal, screws/nails etc. (if in doubt, check with a metal detector)

– MINIMUM THICKNESS: 3,5cm for Piccolo and Lude models. 5cm for model Robin and Tamino

– MINIMUM WIDTH: 18cm

– MINIMUM LENGTH: 54 cm

– MINIMUM ORDER: 4 boxes (with less I charge a surcharge per box)

................................................................................................................................. ..

** A plank of a freshly sawn tree dries on average 1 cm per year, provided it is placed in a well-ventilated and dry place. So a board of 4 cm thickness needs 2 years, sometimes less in hot dry summers, e.g.

Send a message

If the wood you have in mind meets the above conditions, please send me an email with your request with the details of the wood in question and which model of music box you would like. Please also send some pictures of the wood so that I can assess whether it will indeed work, to avoid disappointment later on. Because sometimes there are extra unexpected surprises with the wood. Also state which type of wood it is. (woods with a lot of resin such as Larch and Douglas I cannot use)

Where else can you buy the music boxes?

You can find all (physical) sales points here

I'm looking for a melody that does not appear in the webshop

Unfortunately it is not possible to request a different melody.

This is because I only purchase from the supplier a few times a year, and have to purchase at least 100 pieces per melody, which is expensive.

You can buy a music box without a mechanism from me and put in the mechanism that you have bought yourself somewhere else through me or yourself. Please note that the model is identical, otherwise it will not fit.

To have a mechanism made with your own melody, see the question 'can I have my own melody made'

What is the difference between manual and wind-up?

The difference is that a manual mechanism you have to turn the lever to make the music sound. This lever is always on the side and is visible. Depending on the melody, it is silver-colored with a red ball or completely gold-colored. A manual mechanism has 18 tones.

A wind-up mechanism plays by itself for a few minutes. You just have to wind it up, the further you wind it the longer it plays. The winding key is at the bottom of the box, out of sight (except for Piccolo, who has it at the top). A wind-up mechanism is available in various versions. The smallest has 18 tones. Larger, more expensive machine heads have 30,36,50 or even 72 tones.

What does showing 18/23/30 mean?

This indicates the number of notes that are on the mechanism.

To be more precise; The mechanism has a comb with teeth that are tuned from high to low. There is also a rotating cylinder with pins, the position of these pins determine the melody, and every time a pin hits a tooth, a tone is heard.

The smallest and most sold mechanisms have 18 tones. (music box Piccolo, Lude, Celesta, Robin, Tamino) There are also larger machine heads with 30 (Tamino, Calandra) and 50 tones (Orpheus, = temporarily unavailable).

You can imagine that the more tones there are, the nicer it will sound, because it is closer to the original. The mechanism also plays longer and contains a larger fragment of the original piece of music. The quality of the materials is better and so is the sound.

Questions about engraving

I do not yet know the text for engraving.

For example, if you want the box to be delivered quickly before a birth, but you do not yet know the name and date of birth, it is best to order the box (with engraving, fill in: 'text will be later') due to delivery time / availability . As soon as you know the text for engraving, email this to me. Then I can usually engrave it within a few days.

Can I have my own logo / image engraved?

Yes, that's possible. Keep in mind that the engraving is black / white. So if a logo / image is graphic then we can usually engrave it. When a good quality file is supplied in pdf, the price is 15, -. If the file still needs editing then 10-20 euro is added. Send the file by e-mail for a quote.

Can I have multiple surfaces engraved?

Yes, that's possible. First choose the area before the first engraving and fill in the desired text. After this an option for a second engraving for another plane appears. If you want a third engraving, please contact us.

Layout of text

By default we use the font 'Gabriola Regular'. Subtle, elegant and with beautiful sleek lines, perfect for engraving. (a different font is possible on request if it is in our 'font' collection)

The layout is provided by us by engraving. How this will look depends on the number of characters and the available surface. It is therefore possible that texts with long sentences are divided over multiple lines. If you would like to have an example of this in advance, let us know.

If your question has not been answered above, you can use this contact form. Rob still receives many messages every week, it can sometimes take a while before you get an answer. If your question is about an existing order, please respond to the confirmation you received by email. The workshop is closed from September 28 to October 5. Messages are not read during this period.

Contact Form

FOLLOW ROBIN WOOD!

ADDRESS & CONTACT

Rob de Looff

Robin Wood Music Boxes

Workplace:
Europalaan 41
3526 KN Utrecht
The Netherlands

Shop window & Shop:
Dark Street 21
3511 KB Utrecht

Call: + 31 (0) 6 11 30 38 99
Email: rob@robinwoodmusicbox.com

Visit in the workshop is by appointment only. The shop is open twice a week. More info below.

Greetings from the music boxes
maternity room!

Workshop De Createur Europalaan

The workshop on the Europalaan. On the left is Rob's studio.

Shop window & showroom in the Donkerstraat

Shop window & shop in the Donkerstraat. See agenda for opening hours

More Info

Shop window & shop of Robin Wood in the Donkerstraat

OTHER SALES POINTS

A music box for Einaudi

Various messages > A music box for Einaudi

A music box for Einaudi

July 10, 2023 Rob

Of course I make music boxes to make them sound! But sometimes boxes have to wait a very long time.

In 2019 I made a box for Ludovico Einaudi (Italian composer/pianist) commissioned by Annerike Gorter. She wanted to give him this gift during an interview for the travel blog Hello Tutti after a concert in Milan. But the interview was unexpectedly canceled, the box remained silent and then came the corona crisis..

A few years later when Einaudi finally came back to the Netherlands for a concert, the box went to the Concertgebouw twice and was quietly present in Annerike's bag on the 3rd row in the main hall. Interviews were not given and an attempt to give it afterwards, waiting in front of his dressing room, failed, Einaudi did not show up.

Until last Friday in the palace garden of Soestdijk Palace where Einaudi gave a concert. Partly thanks to the box, Annerike was on the guest list and she was finally able to give the box to him.

Einaudi unpacked it, turned it on, and after almost 4 years the box could finally play its melody in the hands of the recipient! And what melody did it sound? The Minuet in G major by Johan Sebastian Bach, one of his great sources of inspiration.

The box is made from a Maple tree from 1900 that stood on the water at the Sonnenborgh observatory in Utrecht, along the canal.

Annerike always passes by here during her walks while listening to Einaudi's album Seven days walking.

If this isn't a box with a story, then I don't know what is :)

Photo of the maple (left tree)

I don't know most of the adventures that the music boxes go on. Do you also have a nice story about the life of a music box? Let me know! Greetings Rob rob@robinwoodmusicbox.com

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Robin Wood supports Trees for All!