At some point, somebody looked at a perfectly adequate collection of musical instruments and thought: what if the keyboard were wet? Or the guitar had far too many strings? Or the sound system produced actual lightning?
Music benefits enormously from people who refuse to leave sensible ideas alone. These six instruments are a fine tour of that refusal, from elegant acoustic inventions to a stage spectacle that requires rather more expertise than plugging in a practice amp.
1. Cristal Baschet: glass with a secret voice
The Cristal Baschet looks as much like a sculpture as an instrument. The Baschet association’s illustrated guide describes its development by Bernard and François Baschet in the 1950s and the use of wet fingers on glass rods. Resonators and diffusers help give the vibrating structure its distinctive acoustic voice.
The result can sound uncannily electronic without making a synthesizer the source of the note. Its visual elegance is part of the pleasure: this is an instrument that appears to have escaped from an especially musical laboratory.
2. Hydraulophone: please play in the water
The University of Toronto credits Steve Mann as the inventor of the hydraulophone. Water is central to the instrument’s operation and interaction, rather than simply decoration around an ordinary keyboard.
That changes the relationship between performer and instrument. Musical control becomes tactile in a particularly literal way. The childhood urge to put your hands in a fountain has finally acquired a respectable artistic explanation.
3. Singing Tesla coils: a very dramatic speaker
Musical Tesla-coil systems, sometimes called Zeusaphones, make controlled electrical discharges part of the performance. ArcAttack’s performers build shows around singing Tesla coils and explain their work as a combination of music and engineering.
The flashes are not merely a light show beside a hidden guitar solo. They are part of the sound-producing spectacle. This is professional high-voltage equipment, which makes “I’ll improvise one in the kitchen” an exceptionally poor encore.
4. Hurdy-gurdy: the bow has become a wheel
The Metropolitan Museum’s instrument description explains the central trick: a crank turns a wheel against strings, while keys alter the melody. Drone strings contribute a sustained accompaniment.
It is a beautifully practical way to produce continuous bowed sound without moving a conventional bow back and forth. Visually, it has the charm of a wooden machine whose inventor became distracted halfway through building a small organ and discovered a better idea.
5. Singing saw: the workshop auditions
A flexible saw blade can produce a sustained, eerie tone when bent appropriately and bowed. Harvard’s explanation of the physics connects the effect to the blade’s changing curvature and the localization of its vibrations.
The sound is much gentler than the tool’s appearance suggests. Your brain sees carpentry; your ears receive a ghost practising a lullaby. No invented horror-film credit is needed to make that contrast entertaining.
6. Pikasso: six strings were only the beginning
Linda Manzer’s own account describes the Pikasso built for Pat Metheny: 42 strings, four necks and roughly 1,000 hours of construction spread over two years. Those are construction hours, not an absurdly long tuning session.
The design also considers the player’s view and comfort. Even a magnificent tangle of strings has to meet an actual pair of human arms. That practical care is as impressive as the apparent excess.
If your listening has become too predictable, these are a useful detour from the usual recommendation loop. Sometimes a new musical direction begins with asking what else can vibrate. Sometimes it also requires a towel.
