Awesome Musical Instruments

A fidget spinner shouldn’t make much noise unless there’s something wrong with its ball bearings. In the hands of Jen’s Maker Adventures, these playthings make plenty of sound. That’s because he rigged up a bunch over infrared light sensors and wired them to control an Arduino or MIDI synthesizer. The sounds it makes vary based on how fast each toy spins.

A hurdy-gurdy makes music by rubbing a wheel against its strings. Musician Keizo Ishibashi demos the Cantareel, an invention that works similarly, spinning its wheel against the strings of an acoustic guitar, and producing a unique sound that’s somewhere between a violin and bagpipes. This original composition really shows off what it can do.

Paul Junkin has lived with a piano in his house since he was a little kid, but he doesn’t know how to play it. Rather than taking piano lessons, he used his engineering skills to rig up 88 solenoids and circuitry, enabling it to play any tune fed to it via MIDI, including keypress velocity. After seeing how he did it, watch it attempt the ultimate challenge track, Rush E.

What you’re looking at is the world’s smallest violin. Not to be confused with the tiny violin sim, this microscopic musical instrument measures just 35 microns long and 13 microns wide and is made from platinum. It was created by Dr. Kelly Morrison and physicists from Loughborough University using nanolithography tech. Sadly, it’s not playable.

Burls Art has made several guitar bodies using colored pencils and clear resin. Now he’s made what he says is his best one yet. This new design features pencils laid in a V-shape layout, with their ends creating a colorful pattern along the edge of the guitar. He’s continued to refine his process, and the result is a beautifully smooth and artful instrument.

We once saw a guitar that had buttons like an accordion, but Eric Coquin Poirier built an accordion bellows into the body of an acoustic guitar. There’s a little keypad in the bottom corner, but the guit-cordion on only seems to be able to play one chord in this clip.

The guys from the band Undecided Future rock a one-of-a-kind instrument. Built by Olmos Guitarras, the electric guitar is embedded into a low-riding BMX bike. While it’s not ride-and-play friendly, it’s perfect for impromptu solos at red lights, turning every street corner into an unexpected concert stage.

The trombone in this video looks like it was run over by a truck, and looks like it’s completely unsalvageable. But Robinson’s Remedies is an expert at repairing damaged brass instruments (and lip balm for musicians). It took a tremendous amount of care and hand work to restore the bell from the severely deformed brass instrument.

Musician Matheus Lodewijk demonstrates a modern version of an unusual electronic instrument known as a Trauntonium. The custom-made analog synthesizer is controlled using long metal wires stretched across a pair of metal bars. Changing finger position along each wire controls pitch, while pushing down on the bars adjusts amplitude.

Burls Art is a master at making electric guitars from unusual materials. He and his buddy Packard created a pair of guitars using layers of stone so thin that light passes through them. They made wooden frames to provide a structure and coated the stone with clear epoxy resin to make it smooth and add strength. LED backlighting adds a warm glow.

Piano? More like paino. Mattias Krantz has a thing for making dangerous musical instruments. After creating a piano that’s capable of electrocution, he moved on to one that triggers paintball guns when its keys are pressed. It plays music by turning its victims’ screams into notes.

Veritasium and Rob Scallon take us inside one of the most remarkable musical instruments in the world. Located in Virginia’s Luray Caverns, it makes music by striking ancient limestone with electromechanical mallets. The stalactites reverberate when struck, and electric guitar pickups capture the sounds and feed them to an amplifier.

This electronic autoharp from Napkey is a modern take on the 1980s Suzuki Omnichord. Push a button and strum its touchpad, and it plays a chord. It has 36 chord buttons, 20 voice polyphony, and waveform, release, and volume adjustments. It also has USB-C MIDI and TRS MIDI outputs for connecting to digital audio workstation apps and a 3.5 mm audio output.

We’ve seen time and again that humans aren’t done inventing new musical instruments. Musician and inventor Fron Reilly shows off his fron2, a stringed instrument that spins like a hurdy-gurdy but is played with a bow or other object to create warm, ethereal sounds. Contact Fron on Facebook if you’re interested in having one built for you.

Audima Labs shows off a sweet new MIDI controller that enhances live performance. Like a theremin, it’s controlled by waving your hands above it, but the Sway is built to control digital music. It offers six degrees of expression including strike, sway, glide, X/Y, aftertouch, and 2-handed gesture control. Place a reservation now to save when it launches.

Musician Nicolas Bras is known for making all kinds of unusual and inventive musical instruments. One of his sillier creations is this bagpipe he made from a duck-shaped pool float for its bag. But the duck is just full of hot air. The real music makers are the membrane clarinets he fabricated from PVC pipe.