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10 Weird Instruments Actually Played – Part II

Contrabass Saxophone

Back in the middle of the ninetieth century, Mr. Adolphe Sax designed and invented the saxophone - not just the instrument, but a whole family of instruments, able to cope with a very wide range of notes. At the highest end was the sopranino. And at the end was the monster truck of all instruments: the contrabass sax. Measuring almost 2 meters and weighting around 25 kilograms, this megalomanous thing is pitched in the key of E♭, one octave below the baritone, and its notes are so low - ranging from A 3 to F_#6 and sounding C1 to A3 - that not even all trained ears can tell the tonal difference between them, and usually another instrument lends a hand to help the harmonics come out clean.

As one can imagine, you won't find a contrabass saxophone hanging around at your music school. Very few still exist - an estimated 45. The good news is that there's been some demand, and currently you can order them from at least three places in the world. Obviously enough, you'll be paying a reasonable price for it, but if you can afford to have a two-meter amplified-elephant in your house, you should be fine with it.

Be sure to check this website for more information about this!

Laser Harp

Made popular by Jean Michel Jarre, the laser harp consists of a set of lasers which are triggered to a sound emitter device. Upon interruption of the light beam, a sound is produced, imitating the pluck of a string on a regular harp. Besides its usage in post-modern music, techno and acid fans are also very keen about it, not only because of the sound itself, but also because of the light show created.

Having a laser harp is very cheap - probably the cheapest of all the instruments featured on this list: there are dozens of websites teaching how to build your own with basic mechanics and workarounds, with the community behind http://www.laserharp.org/ being undoubtedly the most active.

Thumb Piano

The thumb piano, most commonly known as Mbira or Kalimba, is one of the many ingenious instruments born in Africa. Simply put, metal stripes with different sizes are attached to a wooden board (most of the times there's some sort of ressonator to allow the sound to expand) and the device is born. Often used in ancient rituals and cerimonies, this tiny instrument was said to reach the skies with its sounds, thus calling people's ancestors.

Quad-Guitar

Designed and used by notable metal man Michael Angelo Batio,  this Hydra-inspired guitar features two seven-string guitars on top and two regular six-strings at the bottom. Not really an instrument but more of a tuning experience with one, quad-guitar's are used mainly for showing off speed, and technique. As the human species only has two arms, these guitars are often aided by very powerful and sensitive pickups, easing one-hand tapping techniques.

Recently a new quad-guitar started being sold under Michael Angelo's signature, the 2009 MAB Armorflame Quad.

As hilarious as it may seem, there's no denying the badassness of this.

Orchestrion

The aim of the orchestrion was theoretically simple: to imitate an orchestra - automatically. Nowadays, this may not seem a very difficult task, but bear in mind that the first orchestrions were invented in the middle of the ninetieth century. These first "pocket orchestras", created by F. T. Kaufmann of Dresden in 1851, acted through pure  mechanical means, and had carved wooden barrels to act as a music sheet. Later on,  perforated paper music rolls replaced the barrels, resembling 1970's card-based computers, as you can see in this video.

Many kinds of orchestrions were developed ever since, combining different techniques, technologies, and instruments. But what brought my attention to this was a recent project by Patt Metheny, where he and his sound engineers devised a mind-blowing way of actually controlling an entire set of instruments with a guitar and a set of pedals and keys.

Zadar Sea Organ

The sea organ is an instrument. Only not played by anyone. This architectural marvel, located in Zadar, Croatia, was opened to public in 2005, and is a very prominent tourist attraction. Below the marble stairs embracing the Zadar sea a system of polyethylene tubes turns the space into a gigant, eerie pipe organ, allowing some really beautiful tunes to be played by the wind and the sea.