Atrapa-sons, an amusing and educational television show from TV3 Catalonia in Spain, entertains you with musical numbers creatively composed using ordinary household objects, including rakes, potatoes, surgical gloves, forearm crutches, and brooms. Grab some pots and spoons and join in!
posted by jeanmari on Nov 26, 2009 - 6 comments

10 Magnificently Modern Musical Instruments
posted by Joe Beese on Nov 18, 2009 - 47 comments

Ever wanted to play a white radish like a flute? Or maybe a carrot clarinet? Or perhaps a cucumber trumpet?
posted by scarello on Nov 17, 2008 - 22 comments

20 pretty painted guitars. (via Nag on the Lake) [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive on Sep 6, 2008 - 12 comments

Oddstrument is a blog about unusual musical instruments and other interesting acoustic technologies.
posted by Upton O'Good on Aug 28, 2008 - 15 comments

SoundJunction is all about music. You can take music apart and find out how it works, create music yourself, find out how other people make music and how they perform it, you can learn about musical instruments and voices, and look at the backgrounds of different musical styles. Over 40 musicians talk on film about their experiences. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Aug 21, 2008 - 3 comments

"Tained Love" on ukulele. [more inside]
posted by jbickers on Jan 31, 2008 - 62 comments

Surely this must be a double, right? I mean, you've got this great and strange program, Addi's Inflatable Minute, and this incredibly strange but somewhat haunting instrument and its all in one You Tube Link? People don't actually make this sort of content in real life, do they?
posted by Ogre Lawless on Jan 11, 2008 - 30 comments

The Muse's Muse Songwriting Resource is the place for songwriting tips, tools, interactivities and connecting with other songwriters around the world. See the section about musical instruments or get into the guitar player's guide. Start communicating with other musicians and songwriters in the forums and check out the music reviews. Lots to do, see, hear, learn, and most of all, enjoy.
posted by netbros on Aug 22, 2007 - 10 comments

I've been wowing my colleagues by creating beautiful music from words from my head.
posted by tellurian on Jun 28, 2007 - 34 comments

Oh, but it's much more than just guitars. How about a John Lennon set list from 1974? Maybe Bon Scott's tour jacket is more your thing. Me? I want the Mr. Big tour cases because they're in mint/hardly used condition.
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Apr 3, 2007 - 12 comments

Now spell "angel"! A Texas Instruments "Speak n Spell" simulator.
posted by Jimbob on Jan 30, 2007 - 28 comments

If you're interested in musical instruments from all over the world, Wesleyan University's Virtual Instrument Museum should not be missed. Instruments are searchable by type (idiophones, aerophones, etc.), by materials (wood, bamboo, etc.), or by geographic region. The photos are very good, and many instruments are represented by excellent MP3 audio clips. And the exhibits (QTVR movies: drag your mouse to see the instrument from all angles) are wonderful.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Sep 25, 2006 - 11 comments

Phisick - Beautifully presented historical medical instruments. Check out the French Nasal Rectificateur. Take a look these ear trumpets too: 1, 2, 3, 4. [Click on the images in the top strip for alternate views and close-ups]
posted by tellurian on Aug 18, 2006 - 19 comments

Henry Lim composes sonatas and film scores. He also has a serious thing for Lego. The Hepburn portrait, Natalie Portman portrait, Beethoven and Fab Four portraits are impressive enough, but it is the full size, fully playable Harpsichord that demonstrates some kind of heroism. (mp3 included- to be listened to only once, really, or not even that.)
posted by IndigoJones on Jul 26, 2006 - 15 comments

Philippe Guillerm is a woodworker whose art is comprised of various classical string instruments in whimsical, almost anthropomorphized positions
posted by jonson on May 27, 2006 - 7 comments

"Now I need to take a piece of wood and make it sound like the railroad track, but I also had to make it beautiful and lovable so that a person playing it would think of it in terms of his mistress, a bartender, his wife, a good psychiatrist." Les Paul interview and his recent 90th birthday celebration. via Kill Ugly Radio. (more...)
posted by madamjujujive on Jun 18, 2005 - 12 comments

Dewanatron : a family of electronic instruments ‘which hazard unpredictable behaviors and self playing tendencies.’ See, for example, the Alphatron, the Dual-Primate Console, and the Courtesy Modulator. Besides his work as an instrument- and furniture-maker, the Dewanatrons’ co-creator, Brian Dewan, is a musician and singer who has collaborated with They Might Be Giants, among others. He is also a visual artist, who has created numerous filmstrips, and who was responsible for the ‘flying victrola’ design for the the Neutral Milk Hotel album ‘In The Aeroplane Over the Sea.’
posted by misteraitch on Apr 21, 2005 - 9 comments

Are they ukuleles, or are they books? Think Joseph Cornell goes Hawaiian.
posted by scody on Feb 22, 2005 - 8 comments

The piatarbajo, the chromelodeon, the trimba, cloud chamber bowls, the simeon, the pyrophone, the virtual rhythmicon, cigar box guitars, the skatar, and all the other assorted instruments by musical visionaries who find guitar, bass, drums, and the symphony orchestra too confining.
posted by jonp72 on Sep 23, 2004 - 10 comments

Banned by the Vatican and created by a tone deaf engineer... presenting the Hammond.
posted by drezdn on Aug 30, 2004 - 20 comments

Radel Electronics Pvt. Ltd.: electronic musical instruments for Indian music.
posted by Quartermass on Aug 25, 2004 - 6 comments

120 Years of Electronic Music. Electronic musical instruments 1870 -1990.
posted by the fire you left me on Jul 10, 2004 - 12 comments

Notecannons. An online pictorial history of National brand stringed instruments from 1920 - present.
posted by eastlakestandard on Mar 26, 2004 - 3 comments

Musica Antiqua: A Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Instruments. Complete with both .wav and .mp3 samples.
posted by Ufez Jones on Mar 12, 2004 - 9 comments

A long list of links related to all aspects of the history of scientific instruments, such as sundials, slide rules, and pocket compasses.
posted by carter on Aug 24, 2003 - 5 comments

The Optigan: OPTIcal orGAN. Long before synthesizers, ProTools, and Cubase, Mattel released a bizarre contraption called the 'Optigan' which operated by assigning each key to a track on an optical disc on which were recorded sounds of real instruments playing every individual note. This site is one guy's obsession with the instrument that may well be dead and forgotten if not for him. Check out his mp3s of his own, reasonably successful, band based around the instrument, to see how it sounds.
posted by wackybrit on Jun 30, 2003 - 18 comments

Oddmusic is for anyone interested in unique, unusual, ethnic, or experimental music and instruments, according to the site. The gallery is full of strange instruments - some are beautiful, some are whimsical, and some are just silly. Many have samples to listen to, including the noisy-but-impressive Lego Harpsichord.
posted by ukamikanasi on Jun 24, 2003 - 9 comments

Play the instruments of Harry Partch online! (Some assembly required.) My favorite: the chromelodeon -- 43 tones per octave! For more background, see this prior Partch post.
posted by UlfMagnet on Jun 6, 2003 - 6 comments

The Mu Major Chord Outstanding guitar themed Steely Dan fan site. Learn the secret Steely Dan chord substitution!
posted by crunchburger on May 8, 2003 - 15 comments

Whether you call it the "Jumping Flea" or "that Hideous Portugese Instrument," I'm sure we all have come to know, if not love, the ukulele. Of course, the best known uke player of recent times was Tiny Tim, though you may also remember performances in certain films. This last contains a very famous song. Converted? Then why not learn to play? Don't have an instrument? Build one for $12.
posted by kaibutsu on Apr 15, 2003 - 32 comments

A little plastic toy piano discovered at a flea market becomes the focus of Twink, the whimsical all toy band. Listen to or download the slightly surreal, sugary and surprisingly complex mp3s to hear the piano and the accompanying toys; hurdy-gurdies, musical saws, busy boxes, speak 'n spells, squeaky toys and giggle sticks. The happy-go-lucky yet vaguely sinister "Hoppity Jones" is a personal favorite. Twink is the brainchild of Mike Langlie, icon maker extraordinaire at Yipyop.
posted by iconomy on Apr 19, 2002 - 16 comments

Jon Rose isn't your average Australian violinist. He builds his own violins and plays the hell out of them.
posted by shinybeast on Mar 22, 2002 - 5 comments

it's the strangest noise ever. it's called a daxophone and as far as i can make out it seems to be some kind of wooden bowed instrument. there's more stuff on the inventor here (this does require flash) and a video clip of hans playing it here. some of his guitars are odd too.

please note that i have not accused anyone of anything as yet this year.
posted by Spoon on Jan 7, 2002 - 7 comments

Why can't you people keep an eye on your instruments? Vintage violin left in a cab. A different, rare, $40,000 violin left in cab. A $4 million, 1673 Stradivarius cello left in a cab. A $35,000 violin bow left in a cab. And of course, Yo-Yo Ma's $2.5 million, 266-year-old cello, left in a cab.
posted by Mo Nickels on Aug 25, 2001 - 11 comments

Musical instruments are pretty good examples of form following function. Over time, they evolve into standard shapes. Occaisionally, some people push the instruments in new directions. Other times, they run at right angles to reality
posted by plinth on Nov 17, 2000 - 1 comment

Yahama has made the Rolls Royce of pianos.
'Built around an Intel Pentium III computer chip, the piano allows functions to be controlled by a user's voice and lets the user watch an artist's performance stored on disc while hearing the concert. When the disc is inserted into a built-in DVD player, the performance is displayed on a computer monitor as keys and pedals move up and down recreating the piano part.'
And only $333,000, where do I sign up?
posted by Mark on Apr 5, 2000 - 2 comments