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Tie Tunes
MB&F Music Machine III
Words | Henry Lau
Design | Franco Au-Yeung
Translate | Joyce Tsang

Big Boy’s Toys

Since the beginning, MB&F have never let the big boys down. They kept delivering designs which are strong in both the mechanical and contemplating aspects, including examples such as the HM4 which appears like an aircraft engine; the HM5 which took inspirations from Lamborghini’s Miura rear design; and not to mention, the Music Machine 1 and MusicMachine 2 music box, a limited edition collectible that is based off of different space crafts found in Star Wars. To celebrate the brand’s 10th year anniversary, they have released the MB&F’s second generation music box, MusicMachine3 (MM3).

By the Expert

MM3 was crafted by Reuge, a music box manufacturer with 150 years of experience and expertise in the field. Limited to 99 pieces (with options of a white, a black or a ‘chrome’ finish, offered at 33 pieces each), its appearance is created based on the memorable Star Wars TIE fighter, the model which defeated the Rebel alliance in the movie. The music box is run by the “thruster” at the back of the two Geneva main plates, where each of the plates have their very own Frustums (made to look like propulsion thrusters), one main plate, linear cylinders, as well as the hand-tuned combs which are responsible for playing each note. Each cylinder contains three melodies, and the speed of the cylinder/ the rhythm of the music is dictated and altered by the fan regulators (made to look like radars).

List of the classics

As mentioned, each cylinder in the music box contains three melodies. The right cylinder plays themes from Star Wars, Mission Impossible and James Bond, and the left cylinder plays themes from The Godfather, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and The Persuaders. The two combs which lies flat beside each cylinder is in charge of making the notes, and the vibration is then delivered to the resonance base developed by JMC Lutherie.