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Awesome Musical Instruments

LEGO Acoustic Guitar

LEGO Acoustic Guitar

A while back, we saw a bass guitar made from LEGO bricks. Musician BERNTH built a LEGO acoustic guitar. Other than the neck, strings, and bridge, his guitar is pure LEGO goodness. Rather than focusing on the build process, his video showcases his new song, Memories. We’re impressed he was able to such a rich sound from its plastic body.

Sousaphone Light Show

Sousaphone Light Show

Brass instruments like the tuba and its smaller brother, the sousaphone, make some of the best sounds in a marching band. John Baylies, aka Sousasteps, upgraded his sousaphone in two ways: it controls a synthesizer, so it sounds like an electronic didgeridoo, and its bell is packed with LEDs that change in sync with the music.

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Playing 80 Instruments in 3 Minutes

Playing 80 Instruments in 3 Minutes

This clip from Vinheteiro has the stone-faced musician playing the same five note sequence on 80 different musical instruments. It’s a fun video to watch, but we suggest putting on your headphones and listening with your eyes closed to see how many instruments you can name by ear.

Guitar + Organ = Guitorgan

Guitar + Organ = Guitorgan

There are electric guitars, and then there’s this thing. SamuraiGuitarist Steve-san Onotera got his hands on one of the weirdest guitars ever, the MCI B-35 Guitorgan. This late 1970s oddity combined a guitar with an electric organ. The hollow-body instrument packs a large circuit board and plays keyboard sounds using sensors between its frets.

Movie Music on Unusual Instruments

Movie Music on Unusual Instruments

Joe Porter plays familiar tunes on a variety of musical instruments. After entertaining us with some video game and cartoon music, he’s back with a medley of movie music. His renditions of the theme from Home Alone, Peaches, Over the Rainbow, and Pure Imagination sound magical on the lithophone, slapophone, aquarion, and euphonic array.

Excalibur Combination Musical Instrument

Excalibur Combination Musical Instrument

Musician Gabriel Guardian shows off Excalibur, a versatile new musical instrument designed by Looyay that combines an electric bass, a keyboard, and digital drum pads in one. Gabriel’s performance of Killer Queen takes advantage of Excalibur’s unique capabilities, and shows off his own multitasking skills. Now, enjoy a little Billie Jean.

Spinning Guitar Neck

Spinning Guitar Neck

Normally, if you want a guitar and a bass, those are two instruments. Inspired by a weird prototype guitar shown in the Beatles Get Back documentary, Mattias Krantz engineered this unique guitar with a cylindrical neck that rotates beneath its player’s digits, allowing its player to switch instantly between guitar and bass strings. It’s also got a motor drive.

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Making a Bass from Colored Pencils

Making a Bass from Colored Pencils

Burls Art has created a few guitar bodies from colored pencils. This time, he made a 5-string bass using a similar technique. Before sealing the pieces in resin, he sorted and grouped the colors and fanned them out into a bold, angular design. He also added a timer to the video to show how long it took to build.

Playing 111 Instruments in 111 Seconds

Playing 111 Instruments in 111 Seconds

Luke from Instrument Maniac bests his 91 instrument performance, with 20 additional ways to play music. This, the snippets connect into a single song rather than just playing the same lick repeatedly. For a real challenge, try naming as many instruments as you can with your eyes closed.

Muro Box N40 Programmable Music Box

Muro Box N40 Programmable Music Box

An ordinary music box only plays a single song. The Muro Box can play any song. It uses computer-controlled wheels to flick its metal forks and can be programmed using a mobile app or a MIDI device. It has a 40-note chromatic scale, and more than 50,000 songs in a downloadable library. They also make a less-expensive N20 model with 20 notes.

Playing the Flötenkreis

Playing the Flötenkreis

We’ve come across some weird musical instruments over the years, so why not add another to the collection? Artist Philipp Läng’s spring-loaded Flötenkreis makes its music by pushing air through a dozen plastic recorders, each set to play a single note. The sounds it produces are more annoying than melodic.

A Piano with No Black Keys

A Piano with No Black Keys

Classic.FM recently turned us on to a 97-key piano that has just a single octave. Now, they are showing off another unusual instrument – a piano that only has white keys. Micronet’s Sinhakken piano still has 88 keys, but it looks far more difficult to play without black keys for reference.

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Folding Electric Guitar in a Briefcase

Folding Electric Guitar in a Briefcase

Traveling with a guitar can be challenging due to its size and shape. While there are some folding guitars on the market, they still take up a good deal of space. Yuji Shimano shows off a unique electric guitar that folds down small enough to fit into a briefcase. The velvet-lined case also has a built-in speaker and guitar amp, so it’s perfect for practice sessions.

Mikroton Microtonal Piano

Mikroton Microtonal Piano

Created by German instrument maker Sauter, the Mikroton is a specially-tuned piano that only has 1/16th of a step between its keys. Despite having nine more keys than a regular piano, it only has a one octave range. Musician Antune demonstrates its ability to produce an incredibly smooth progression of notes.

How a Pipe Organ Works

How a Pipe Organ Works

Organist Anna Lapwood provides an in-depth yet easy-to-understand explanation of how pipe organs work using the massive 3574-pipe organ at St John’s Smith Square in London. Along the way, you’ll learn about its pipes, wind chests, stops, pedals, and manuals, as well as hear some very different kinds of sounds it can produce.

Retro Tech: 8-Track Tape Drum Machine

Retro Tech: 8-Track Tape Drum Machine

Before digital synthesizers and drum machines, instruments like the Mellotron used pre-recorded tape loops to play short sound samples. Musician Hainbach got his hands on a Bandmaster Powerhouse, a 1970s analog drum machine that used custom 8-track tapes to play drum loops. Its now well-worn tape cartridges produce some fantastic lo-fi sounds.

LEGO Pan Pipe Organ

LEGO Pan Pipe Organ

Jamie’s LEGO Jams created this musical instrument that works sort of like a miniature pipe organ. It’s powered by compressed air stored in plastic soda bottles, which flows through plastic tubes and into a plastic pan flute. The real magic is made by the LEGO keyboard, which manages airflow by crimping and releasing the tubes. It sounds a bit like a calliope.

Making a Guitar from Fallen Leaves

Making a Guitar from Fallen Leaves

We’ve seen guitars made from unusual materials, but this is the first one we’ve seen that was made from leaves. Gitara Maker was inspired to create the guitar after seeing fallen leaves on a camping trip. He built the guitar’s body by stacking flattened layers of leaves with clear resin, shaping it with a scroll saw, and applying top coats for a shiny finish.

A Collection of Unique Guitars

A Collection of Unique Guitars

Musician and luthier Shane Speal is known for making guitars out of cigar boxes. But his penchant for creating unusual musical instruments goes far beyond that. In this short video, he shows off some of his crazy builds, including guitars made from a boat oar, copper pipes, and a shovel. The exit sign electric guitar is our favorite.

Making a Guitar Out of Newspaper

Making a Guitar Out of Newspaper

Burls Art has made a name for himself by creating guitars out of unusual materials. This time, he laminated 700 sheets of newspaper to form a wood-like block. The result is an incredibly cool instrument with a vintage look, visible paper layers along its edge and neck, and historical newspaper headlines on its front and back.

DIY Home Depot Guitar

DIY Home Depot Guitar

Since The Home Depot sells lumber, you’d think it would be relatively easy to piece together a guitar from stuff they sell. But, as BeBeau Builds shows us, the wood could be better, and you can’t find things like strings and tuning pegs there. Still, he and his buddy gave it the old college try and built a fully functional acoustic guitar with nails for frets.

Making a Giant PVC Pan Flute

Making a Giant PVC Pan Flute

Musician and maker Nicolas Bras makes all sorts of wild and inventive musical instruments. In this video, he shows how he used a bunch of PVC pipes to make the most complicated wind instrument ever. The 2-octave chromatic bass pan flute has 30 pipes and is held together with plastic zip ties.

Harmonitree Inflatable Harmonica Instrument

Harmonitree Inflatable Harmonica Instrument

Composer and artist Sky Macklay shows off her Harmonitree, a wonderfully inventive musical instrument that plays harmonicas. It uses a tree-shaped inflatable airbag to push air through its harmonicas and can be left to make music on its own, but it is best when given a big hug for interactive sounds. She’s also built one that triggers with motion sensors.

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