Daxophone

The Daxophone was invented by Hans Reichel, and is a musical instrument of the friction idiophone category. It consists of a thin wooden blade fixed in a wooden block, which holds one or more contact microphones, and is usually mounted on a tripod. Most often, it is played by bowing the free end, but it can also be struck or plucked, which propagates sound in the same way a ruler halfway off a table does.

These vibrations then continue to the wooden-block bass, which are then amplified by the contact mics. A wide range of voice-like timbres can be produced, depending on the shape of the instrument, the type of wood, where it is bowed, and where along its length it is stopped with a separate block of wood called the "Dax". One side of the Dax is fretted to produce fixed pitches, while the other side is a smooth curve, to play more fluid pitch changes.
The sounds that come from the Daxophone are often very unexpected and and sometimes very comical sounding.

Giant Tuba

The Giant Tuba, was made in the early 20th century by Besson, London. The Giant Tuba has over 34 feet of tubing, weighs 112 pounds, and is nearly 8 feet tall.
The lowest playable note on this open valve instrument is the Bb three octaves below middle C, or the second lowest note on a modern piano (29.14 Hz).
This giant tuba was a London music business landmark for much of the 20th century. It was originally fitted to the wall of the Besson & Co. factory in 198 Euston Road as a shop sign.
The Tuba plays like an open valved instrument as the valves do not move.  It was an outside display piece for the main Boosey & Hawkes Shop in the Edgware Road until 1948 when it moved to the B&H Factory in Edgware, North London.

Freenotes instruments

Most musical instruments are difficult to play well, requiring years of study and practice. This leaves most people on the sidelines musically. But it need not be this way.

Freenotes instruments are carefully designed to unlock an individual's innate creative potential. Freenotes allow the universal language of music to be expressed more by feeling and intuition than hours of disciplined practice. There are no wrong notes with Freenotes Gamelan inspired instruments.Freenotes instruments are the creations of Richard Cooke.

A few custom designed Freenotes instruments and sound sculptures.

Former Guitars

The former guitars have two strings which share tension through a "head" that pivots under the control of a long whammy arm. This configuration causes one string to tighten as the other is loosened, creating a tonal center.

The difference of the strings at rest (equal tension) is an octave, because of the string diameter.
The Former Guitars also have a movable bridge that acts as a big fret for "hammer-on" and other techniques more specific to the instrument.

Pickups are mounted under both ends of the string, allowing for multiple independant string segments. The range of the string tension is two to three octaves. The movable bridge futher divides the string into intervals.

  

Designed by Robb Stewart, the Fluba is owned by musician Jim Self, who is also a tubist (tuba player). His idea was to have a tuba sized flugel horn, so Robb designed it and made it from parts. The valve section and "guts" are from a Yamaha Eb "compensating" tuba. Robb cut the slides for an F instrument. He used a small F tuba bell about the size of a Yamaha 621 and made the other branches.
The design is like a huge antique flugel horn. It has some beautiful bends and bows and little personal touches--they show that Robb is a great artist and instrument maker. It sounds like something between an F tuba and a cimbasso. The sound is directionally forward and is very mellow sounding. It is a little brighter than a tuba and a little darker than a contra-bass trumpet.

Fire Organ

Created by Nathan Stodola for his mechanical engineering senior project at Union College, the fire organ is a musical instrument that uses the laws of thermoacoustics to create the oscillations in the air we hear as sound. Like traditional organs, the pyrophone ("flame sound") has one pipe for each playable note, activated by a piano keyboard.

However, the sound in this instrument is produced by a temperature difference imposed across a stack of closely packed channels.
The hot temperature is maintained by propane flames and the other end of the stack is kept cold by running liquid nitrogen through a heat exchanger.

Boasting a range of 14 notes, the organ is one of the only instruments in existence that uses heat to create a tone.

The fiddle-dee-doo

It's a globu-tubular horn, with a goatskin resonator. The tubular section of the horn is the neck and fingerboard of the fiddle, and the goatskin membrane on the globular section is the soundboard of the fiddle. It can have one or two gut strings. The blow hole for the horn is on the back of the globular section.
While it can be played as a globular horn or as a fiddle, it's most interesting when the two systems interact. For example, when blowing into the globular horn, the strings of the fiddle vibrate sympathetically.

Created by Barry Hall of Burnt Earth.

E-Sitar

A 17-string sitar neck, attached to a custom made electric guitar style body. All regular and sympathetic strings are steel, so that the sound can be amplified by the magnetic pickup system. It is played like a standard sitar, as the design puts the instrument in the correct playing position while strapped on, allowing the player freedom of movement. Modeled along the lines of a Rickenbacker 4001-V63 bass, it is built from an assortment of salvaged sitar parts. The body is cut from a piece of ash wood. The neck is dove-tail joined to the body leaving a slight elevation for string clearance. The pickup is by Seymour-Duncan and is their version of a Fender "Jazzmaster" design. This is the only pickup with magnetic poles shallow enough to fit in between the two string layers. It was necessary to angle the pickup position to allow for string placement along the raised frets. the "taraf" (bottom) bridge was then angled so it's string set would sit parallel to the under side of the pickup. Master Sitar and Tabla repairman Tony Karasek designed this hybrid in 2003. A disciple of sitar guru Ravi Shankar, Tony toured with Ravi from 1996-2000 as a Tanpura player and also works on Ravi's instruments. Tony has moved to India to set up a custom sitar business, to facilitate high-quality sitar production in India again, which has been mostly lacking. He merges the best aspects of the many sitars he has come across, along with the finest materials and craftsmen.

Electric Harp Guitars

In 1987, guitar legend Michael Hedges (1953-1997) approached Steve Klein and asked him to make a modern acoustic harp guitar. After several attempts at creating drawings for an acoustic harp guitar, Steve Klein proposed an electric instrument, the Electric Harp Guitar on the left. Equipped with a headless 6-string neck for better balance, it also has a Steinberger Trans-Trem on it. The sub-bass strings are supported by three aluminum tubes in a triangular configuration.

The harp guitar is a musical instrument combining features found in the guitar and the harp. Originally manufactured as a "novelty" instrument, the harp strings are used as bass or drone strings, adding to the harmonic texture. Hybrid styles are possibly the rarest of all, although harp mandolins do exist.

Dulcimer

The dulcimer is one of the few original American musical instruments. It's ancestor, the scheithlot, was found in the late 1700's in Pennsylvania. The Appalachian people changed this instrument and came up with the dulcimer in the 1800's. The word dulcimer means "sweet song", and that describes it well. The Appalachian dulcimer is shaped like an hourglass, or like a woman, as many say. In those days women playing a stringed instrument were not allowed to stand in front of the men. So, they played the dulcimer, which was played on the lap. Originally the dulcimer was strummed with a quill. It can be played with a pick, bowed, fingerpicked, or with a short piece of dowel called a "noter". Different playing styles are used to bring out different sounds. Many chords can also be played on this instrument. Dulcimers are handmade and very beautiful. Most dulcimers have three to five strings, and while tuning modes can vary, usually only the first string is used to play melody, while the other strings provide drone accompaniment and backing chords.
This dulcimer was custom made by the late Homer Ledford (1926-2006) of Kentucky, considered to be a legend and master craftsman of the instrument. It is made from Yellow Poplar wood that is over 100 years old, salvaged from planks that were once slave cabins.
A traditional way to play the instrument is to lay it flat on the lap and pluck or strum the strings with one hand, while fretting with the other. In practice, a wide variety of playing styles are used. For solemn church and parlor music, a bow was traditionally favored, but in faster dance music, the dulcimer was plucked and strummed. When four strings are used, the first two strings are placed close together and tuned the same. This can be used to emphasize the melody, while the other two strings are used as drone strings. Some dulcimers are constructed to allow the strings to be arranged with either a "double melody string" (as described above) or with the option of four equidistant strings. The traditional way to play the dulcimer is to utilize the "one melody string and two drone strings" approach. Players who employ this method are known as "noters". More contemporary play has borrowed from chord theory and guitar analogues to create a variety of more complex ways to play the dulcimer. The Appalachian dulcimer is both easy to learn to play and yet capable of complexity, providing scope for a wide range of professionals and hobbyists.

Electric Bass Kalimba

This is a catamaran style electric bass kalimba with ten keys. It spans 2 octaves in a modified pentatonic setup. It has large clear plastic overtone dampers which allow the bass tones to predominate and cuts down on unwanted sustain.
In the side view photo, you can see that it also has the inset angle bridge feature. The top is cherry wood and the back is quarter-sawn fir. Acoustically this eKalimba is just about inaudible but plugged into a good system it hears the keys evenly and it is PHAT!

The Clackamore

The Clackamore is both a percussive and melody instrument. It is easy to play - simply hold it to your lips and tap with your fingers. This is all you need to do to play along and provide a percussive beat.
By forming the mouth into shapes akin to saying "E" and "O", and by opening and closing the throat, melodies from nursery rhymes to blue grass riffs can be playedAll musicians will enjoy the challenge of learning to play melodies with the Clackamire. By forming the mouth into shapes akin to saying "E" and "O", and by opening and closing the throat, melodies from nursery rhymes to blue grass rifts can be played. A cross between a jaw harp and spoons, it is one of the more unique, yet easy to play instruments. Position the Clackamore on your lips, just like a jaw harp, then play the hammer with rhythms like you would on a pair of spoons.
The Clackamore has been described as a "percussive jew's harp" and "a tool for listening to the shape of your mouth".

Circular Harp

Created by David Murphy, the giant circular harp is an acoustic instrument, which looks a bit like a very large kettledrum. It contains 66 strings, strung in a complex pattern across the top. During performance, which usually requires three people, a video camera points down at the instrument from above, and vibrations from plucked and hammered strings are fed into bowls of liquid. This makes patterns which are projected onto a large screen, as the sound is fed into small speakers underneath in which containers of water or mercury have cameras trained on them. The resulting images are then superimposed to make interesting visual effects.
In his work that appeared at the REV Festival in Brisbane, 2002, "The Circular Harp and it's resulting images", the Circular Harp David Murphy made as an exploration into the junction of geometry and music was played by percussionists Graeme Leak, Greg Sheehen, and himself (on left). The music was amplified for the audience, and used to excite bowls of liquid, with the beautiful and beguiling images that resulted being projected above the performance in real-time

The Celestial Harp

The Celestial Harp is an innovative new musical instrument designed and built by Robin Armstrong. The original idea of the Celestial Harp was to play a person’s horoscope, or to play the horoscope of the very moment one was living in. The dream of musically expressing the healing vibrations of the heavens grew. It evolved into a sound sculpture synthesizing the Zodiac, the I Ching, the Pyramid, the Solar System, and the Stars in the sky. Since the sound or feel of the instrument varies widely, depending on the person or individuals playing it at any given time, we present 3 short unique sound snippets of the Celestial Harp.
The shape of any instrument conditions the attitude of the musician and the type of music played. The shape of the Celestial Harp is based on the proportions inherent in the circle, the square and the spiral. There are seventy-two strings radiating out from the center across a spiral bridge and out to a square bridge. There is also a circle of frets. There are eight double strings and a direct relationship of each string to the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching. Each string has its own frets.
The Celestial Harp has a very strong emphasis on space. The musician must move around it. There is no beginning or end to it. The strings can be hammered, plucked, strummed, played with a slide, or sounded in numerous ways. It is both a stringed instrument and a percussion instrument. It is designed so that several people can play it at the same time.
The tuning system uses a very sophisticated system. As the musician plays around the instrument, the scales ascend and descend in waves. In tuning system #-9 there is a range of four octaves plus an auxiliary two octaves. There is also a scale for each sign of the Zodiac. Tuning system #-12 is set up on a chromatic scale and spans about three octaves. Because several people play the harp at the same time many of the sounds being made seem as if they are coming from several instruments.

The Bubble Organ

The bubble organ is a musical instrument built by Aaron Wendel, and is made out of pieces of old furniture, wood and rain gutters collected from the alleys and dumpsters around his apartment.
It began as an attempt to explore the sounds of bubbling water inside of tubes and how to control the sound to created some form of musical composition.
The bubble organ begins with two balloons which attach to a pipe that hangs underneath the keyboard. Connected to this pipe are 12 small plastic tubes that run through the keys and into the drawer box. The keys are created out of clothespins and popsicle sticks, and pinch down on a piece of heat shrink tubing controlling the air flow of each tube. The tubes run from the keys into the wooden box from the bottom so that they stick up a couple inches vertically. The box is then filled with three to four inches of water so that the surface of the water is above the ends of the tubes. On top of the plastic tubes inside the box, rest a PVC pipes (covered by rain gutters) which are cut to resonate a specific pitch. When a key is depressed the air flow is allowed to flow from the balloon through the tube, bubbling inside the corresponding pvc pipe, and the sound is heard.
The Bubble Organ's simple, yet effective, keyboard design, using clothes pins, popsicle sticks, and old wooden drawer knobs.
For more information about the Bubble Organ, check out the GearWire video of Aaron describing the Bubble Organ in detail, as well as playing a few notes.

Bowafridgeaphone

That’s right; the name of this mammoth beast is the Bowafridgeaphone (bow a fridge a phone). Experimental instrument maker Iner Souster has used refrigerator grates in quite a few of his instruments... Fridge grates, oh fridge grates I love you. Violin bows, on the other hand, are quite afraid of his instruments.
Other items include a broken old speaker, a bundt cake pan, metal salad bowl, and the few other pieces of metal he had lying around his spaceship workshop. There's also 36 strings along the body to help with its resonance, and pick up a few sympathetic tones along the way.

Ukrainian Bandura

Ukrainian bandura built by lutheir Dwight Newton
Ukrainian bandura -- 36 strings, walnut/spruce, original modified bracing pattern.

The invention of an instrument combining the elements of lute and psaltery itself is currently creditable to Francesco Landini, an Italian lutenist-composer of trecento. Filippo Villani writes in "Liber de civitatis Florentiae": "...(Landini) invented a new sort of instrument, a cross between lute and psaltery, which he called the serena serenarum, an instrument that produces an exquisite sound when its strings are struck."

Bamboo Saxophones

Carefully electronically tuned, Ángel Sampedro del Rio's Bamboo saxophones consist of segments of bamboo successively larger in diameter.
This progression has now been demonstrated by acoustical studies as the most harmonically effective.

The joints are extremely solid and resistant over time. They have keys that cover toneholes outside the reach of the fingers. Since 1985 he has developed and built this instrument, with equal attention to acoustic design and aesthetics.
Their interior is protected against changes of humidity, frequent in all wind instruments. The work with mouthpieces led him to use different bamboo types that give the instrument its own and characteristic sound.

   

The Balalaika

The Balalaika family includes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima, sekunda, alto, bass and contrabass balalaika. All have three-sided bodies, spruce or fir tops and backs made of from three to nine wooden sections, and all have three strings. The most common solo instrument is the prima, tuned E-E-A (the two lower strings being tuned to the same pitch). The piccolo, prima, and secunda balalaikas are ideally strung with gut (or, today, usually nylon) strings on the lower pegs and a wire string on the top peg. An important part of balalaika technique is the use of the left thumb to fret notes on the bottom string, particularly on the prima, where it is used to form chords. The index finger is used to sound notes on the prima, while a plectrum is used on the larger sizes. One can play the prima with a plectrum, but it is considered rather heterodox to do so. Due to the gigantic size of the contrabass's strings, it is not uncommon for the plectrum to be made of a leather shoe or boot heel. The contrabass balalaika rests on the ground on a wooden or metal pin drilled into one of its corners.

The Chrysalis

Invented and built by Cris Forster, the instruments design was inspired by a huge, round, stone-hewn Aztec calandar. Cris thought to himself "What if there was a musical instrument in the shape of a wheel?". Thus, the basic idea of the Chrysalis was born. Built in 1975 to 1976, the Chrysalis has 2 sides, or 2 circular sound boards, 82 strings on each side. The wheel, which sits on the creast of a wave like stand, may be freely spun in either direction.
Built in 1975-1976, San Francisco, California.

Dimensions
Total number of strings: 164
Longest sring: 20 inches
Shortest string: 8 inches
Wheel diameter: 36 3/4 inches
Wheel width: 5 inches
Height from floor to top of wheel: 57 1/2 inches
Stand length: 61 inches
Stand width: 10 1/2 inches
Materials used: sitka spruce, oak, ash, maple, birch, ebony, aluminium, brass and steel.

The Convention Hall Auditorium Organ

The Convention Hall Auditorium Organ is the pipe organ in the Main Auditorium of the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company. The great hall itself is also part of the world's largest pipe organ and was formerly known as the Atlantic City Convention Hall, which can seat 41,000 people in the main auditorium.
The massive organ has 33,112 pipes in 455 ranks, including a full-length 64 foot Diaphone Profunda, ten 32 foot ranks, and manual and pedal reeds that are under 100 inches of wind pressure, while most organs never exceed 10 inches of pressure. In total, there are 4 stops on 100 inches of wind pressure, and there are 10 stops on 50 inches of wind pressure, ear burtsing stuff, but all in order to fill the giant room with sound. The electric blowers that power the organ approach 1,000 horsepower, the kind of power needed to fill a hall larger than 15 million cubic feet. A tour of the entire organ takes 4 1/2 hours.

The 64 foot tall Diaphone Profunda, whose low CCCCC is 64' 9" long, 10 inches square at the base, 36 inches square at the top, and 3 inches thick, is made from a single tree. The 12 lowest pipes contain more than 10,000 board feet of lumber, enough to build a house. There are ten 32 foot pedal ranks. The 32 foot Open Diapasorns low CCCC is 38 feet 6 inches long and weighs more than a ton.

The world's largest pipe organ was built between May, 1929, and December, 1932, by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company of Merrick, Long Island, New York. It boasts seven manuals and has 1,439 stop keys, as well as 1,255 speaking stops, 455 ranks, and 33,112 pipes! The organ weighs in at approximately 150 tons. The most impressive stop on the organ would have to be the 16 foot Ophicleide, which is the world's loudest stop. This stop has six times the volume of the loudest train whistle.

Didgeridoo

The Didgeridoo is a long, slightly conical wooden instrument, used traditionally by the Aboriginal people of Northern Australia. Other names for the Didgeridoo are Yirdaki, Kanbi, and Ihambilbilg - although at least 40 different Aboriginal names are commonly used for this instrument throughout Australia. Known as the oldest wind instrument in the world, the origins of the didge may go back as far as 40,000 years. Though only one "note" can be played with the didge (called a drone), overtones and vocal sounds from the player give it a rich sound and countless textures.



A technique called "circular breathing" allows the player to play the instrument for long periods of time, without a break in the sound. The technique also yields rhythmic patterns of the players breath, as well as rhythms that can be generated purposefully by the diaphragm muscles. As well as traditional termite-hollowed Eucalyptus, didgeridoos are now also made from other natural and modern materials. Modern players now integrate the didge into their own non-Aboriginal "western" styles of playing, in music ranging from solo playing, to world, rock, ambient, techno, and every style of music.

The Aquaggaswack

The first version of the aquaggaswack, built in 1996, only had about 18 pot lids and was narrower (it didn't have the outer sections). This second version, revamped in 1998, has 29 pot lids representing a majority of the notesin a octave, plus some quarter-tones. The center lids have mostly "bell"-like tones and the outer sets have more "gong"-like tone. All the lids were obtained from thrift stores and friends. At various times both versions of the Aquaggaswack also included a cymbal, jingle bells, a cowbell with clacker and a mine cylinder (at least that is what the tag said).

A variety of mallets, sticks and brushes can be used to produce sound. The frame is made of galvanized plumbing pipe. It can be a bit unwieldy fully assembled. But the entire thing breacks down for easy transportation.

Harmonic Harps

Sometimes called harmonic harps, wind harps originated in ancient Greece (circa 6 BC) and flourished throughout the Renaissance era. Aeolian Harps are rare, beautiful instruments designed to be played by the wind;free of the touch Of human hands. Harmonic wind harps trnspose the sprit of the wind into spontaneous , muilti-layered music in time to natures rhythms. Thier vibrant voices sing pure harmonic tones that range from deep, pulsing bases to soaring sopranos. A variety of winds, harps, and string tunings combine on these selected recordings to produce an electric repertoire of definitive music. Built by Greg Joly,the Grand Aeolian Harp stands 7.5'tall and is strung with forty-eight 5'2" strings. It plays a rich spectrum of powerful harmonic tones.

Hapi Drum

The unique tone of the hapi drum is created by a tuned tounge of steel. The concept is similar to a wooden tounge drum. When a tounge is quikly and lightly struk with a finger or mallet it vibrates creating sound waves. Playing a hapi drumis similar to playing the hang drum, though the similarities end there. Our mallets eleminate the percussive "head slap" creating a very clear tone. The arrangements of the notes make going up and down the scale very easy. Also one hand can reach two of three notes simultaneously for chord playing. Hapi drums are available in five different pen tatonic scales in the keys E and D with eight notes
ANYONE CAN PLAY A HAPI DRUM EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO MUSICALABILITY AT ALL!!!!!!