Well I saw the videos you uploaded of the Char-Car, and I got a wild hair and looked up the Coke Bottle Calliope.
It turns out yours really is the One and Only genuine article!
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Cody,
Thanks for my first and what will surely be the most unique Christmas gift.
As an update to information in the videoâthe final form now has 28 small size glass bottles and 5 one liter glass bottles. As it turned out, using oil for tuning was more problematic than water. It expanded and contracted so much with temperature change that it was more difficult to keep in tune, so I went back to using water for tuning the bottles. I made most of these modifications to reduce the weight to make it more portable for transporting to the many opportunities I had to share my music and faith in churches and schools.
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Would it work to float a thin layer of oil on the water?
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That was amazing SteveB. Probably not good for heavy metal. Thank God. I bet not a lot of people here know about Benjamin Franklinâs Armonica.
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Kent,
I think I tried that, too, with expansion and contraction still a problem. Also, the oil was more messy than using water.
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Yes, I thought about the mess after I wrote. Oil and water donât mix, but detergent motor oil and water do, sort of. In a past job, oil-over-water manometers were used to set water velocities. First oil tried was the best motor oil available (Royal Triton, if you have a long memory). It turned into a purple mess. As it turns out, turbine oil (steam turbines) doesnât mix with water, as you might guess. Vacuum pump oil is often the same pure petroleum oil, and easier to buy in less-than-barrel quantities. End of history lesson 
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Can you fill them up with like wax or gelatin, part of the way, then top it off with water for tuning? I was thinking the reusable molding material, which is glycerin and gelatin because I assume you want to get the material back out of the bottle, and it melts at like 140F. You would still have to tune it everytime but it might not take as much time. Glycerin by itself might work as well, but I believe that will absorb water.
Either way I saw the video when it aired decades ago and thought it was really cool. Really nice work!
Needs to have reverb added to it. I guess change the volume of the water slightly but really fast since you canât use the spring reverb trick. Which i guess could be like a tube with water, and a spring loaded button that is operated by a cam that gets spun by the air. or maybe just air bubbles in it would work.
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Sean,
I considered the solid topped with oil at one point, but I donât think I ever tried it. I did try filling a bottle with glycerin and also antifreeze, but had the same problem as with waterâexpansion and contraction with temperature change.
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I was thinking the addition of gelatin might work but it does shrink. Adding marbles would decrease the volume and keep the temperature more stables.
What about just filling it with sand then pour paraffin wax over the top to seal it like they do with sand art?
Just put your little condenser mike in the bottom of another Coke bottle. And no, Iâm not really serious either
That would simplify the ability to add reverb, but then he would need like a Marshall Full Stack of tube ampliers to hear it. So then he would have to make tubes out of coke bottles, which is probably possible, but that would be a distraction from his real toy. 
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Sean,
The variables require that the tuning be adjustable. With water, it is just a matter of adding a few drops. There might be a better way, but Iâm with Bob and his KISS principle, so thatâs the way Iâve done it now for about 45 years.
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Had to be in the city since a long time. Had a lot of fun here long long time ago. My daughther didnt want to have a drink, maybe better 
. It is Tilburg ,Tom, if you want to search it.
Happy Christmas and a happy New Year to you all.
Spent to much time in this street when I was a young boy
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So you were a city boy when you were younger?
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Yes, and still am, kind of. This country is one big city and we found a kind of rural piece of free stateđ. We use the city infrastructure and live country wise. Best of both worlds.
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Merry Christmas eve to everyone may there be Peace on the Earth and Good Will to everyone BY The YEHOVAHâs Word Name His Son Yesuha.
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I too wish you all a marry Christmas. Hope you all can smell whats ging on on our Christmas eve
Edit: he too drives on charcoal 
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A Merry Christmas to all my friends!
No christmas trees was hurt during this photo-shoot, theyâ good for fuel in some years.
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Thanks Kristijan, JO, and Goran. I canât top those, so Iâll just simply wish you a very merry Christmas and Godâs blessings and to all the DOW family as well.
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