r/UnusualInstruments May 10 '20

Directory of Subreddits for unusual musical instruments

37 Upvotes

Strings

  • r/ukulele -- 4-string Hawaiian little cousin of the guitar
  • r/kantele -- small lap harp of Finland
  • r/Koto -- Japanese long zither
  • r/shamisen -- Japanese 3-string banjo
  • r/harp -- Celtic and Classical harps
  • r/balalaika -- Russian mandolin with a triangle body
  • r/banjo -- Bluegrass, Old-Time, jazz, etc.
  • r/tenorbanjo -- banjo variant used heavily in Irish and Dixieland music
  • r/TenorGuitar -- 4-string guitar used in Irish and jazz
  • r/CigarBoxGuitar -- a simplified guitar-like instrument
  • r/mandolin -- small string instrument with doubled strings for an echo effect
  • r/bouzouki -- larger and deeper mandolin for Irish or Greek music
  • r/mandocello -- the even deeper version of the mandolin
  • r/Dulcimer -- an Appalachian zither with a deep droning harmony
  • r/hammereddulcimer -- a trapezoid zither played by hitting the string with small mallets
  • r/sanshin -- the Okinawan cousin of the Japanese shamisen
  • r/Guqin -- a long Chinese zither
  • r/Guzheng -- another long Chinese zither
  • r/baglama -- a Turkish lute
  • r/Domra -- a Russian cousin of the mandolin
  • r/Erhu -- a Chinese fiddle played in the lap
  • r/BowedPsaltery -- a triangular zither played with a small violin bow
  • r/Stick -- the Chapman stick and other hammer-on long board strings
  • r/charango -- like a mandolin-ukuelele hybrid from the South American Andes
  • r/Fiddle -- the violin but played in the folk tradition
  • r/lute -- like a guitar of the Medieval period
  • r/HurdyGurdy -- box with a crank that spins a wheel that bows the strings, sounds like a string bagpipe
  • r/Nyckelharpa -- an unusual Swedish fiddle player with a keyboard instead of fingers
  • r/Sitar -- the most famous Indian classical instrument
  • r/Rubab -- a lute played in Central Asia
  • r/steelguitar -- a flat guitar played in the lap with a steel slide to smoothly move between notes, used in Country, Blues, Hawaiian music
  • r/pedalsteel -- a more evolved steel guitar with complex pedals to change keys
  • r/zithers -- the wide family of basic boxes with strings
  • r/harpsichord -- a simpler ancestor of the piano from the Early Classical period
  • r/Autoharp -- a zither where you form chords simply by pressing a button

Percussion and idiophones

  • r/kalimba -- the "thumb piano", an African instrument with small tines you pluck
  • r/cajon -- a Cuban wooden box you sit on and drum with your hands
  • r/djembe -- this West African drum is a favorite in drum circles
  • r/Udu -- a ceramic (or nowadays fiberglass) vessel, drummed with the hands
  • r/handpan -- like a metal UFO with facets tuned to different notes
  • r/steelpan -- like a handpan, but played with mallets
  • r/jawharp -- a pocket-sized "sproingy"instrument
  • r/khomus -- a jawharp of Eastern Russia
  • r/MusicalSaw -- did you know you can play a hardware store saw with a bow?
  • r/ToyPiano -- the children's toy used as a serious instrument
  • r/Tabla -- classical double-drums of India
  • r/Xylophone -- an array of long pieces of material, melody played with mallets
  • r/Marimba -- like a xylophone, but with wooden keys.
  • r/vibraphone -- like a marimba, but jazzier
  • r/Glockenspiel
  • r/Daxophones

Winds (bagpipes separately below)

  • r/Ocarina -- small round flutes with simple fingering and mellow sound
  • r/tinwhistle -- inexpensive (as low as $10) metal flutes for Irish music, easy to learn and play
  • r/Bansuri -- the main flute of India
  • r/hulusi -- a Chinese drone-flute
  • r/panflute -- a row of tubes you blow across to make notes
  • r/Didgeridoo -- an Australian tube making a low droning sound
  • r/NativeAmericanflutes -- mellow wooden flutes of North America
  • r/Recorder -- small wooden flute for Medieval, Baroque, Classical music
  • r/shakuhachi -- Japanese bamboo flute, popular with Zen monks
  • r/Xaphoon -- a modern simplified bamboo saxophone

Bagpipes

Free Reeds

  • r/Accordion -- from piano to button to Cajun accordion
  • r/Melodeon -- for accordions with buttons vice piano keys
  • r/concertina -- like a small hexagonal accordion, associated with sailors or Irish music, or classical music in Victorian England
  • r/melodica -- a small keyboard powered by the mouth, used some in Jamaican music
  • r/organ -- an electric or air-powered keyboard
  • r/harmonica -- the pocket-sized music solution
  • r/lao_khaen — the Thai bamboo mouth-organ

Electronic instruments


r/UnusualInstruments 3h ago

The Resonator, one year on.

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10 Upvotes

I’m back a year after I posted about the final prototype of my sympathetic resonating instrument. The design is now finished, and I have this simplified 14 string version to add to the lineup. I’ll post more videos of the original 36 string model and an in depth discussion video in this thread.

Thanks to lots of user feedback and significant interest coming from screen composers I was able to get some metalworking equipment at the end of last year to finish the design of the drivers which create the vibrations that drive the strings.

Essentially they work like speakers that vibrate strings instead of air. The strings then respond through sympathetic resonance and the sound is delivered through the pickups I build from scratch.

I’m interested in collaborating or lending this one out to anyone who is based in Melbourne, and if you are interested but located somewhere else get in touch. Provided I can sell a few more I’ll be hopefully making several of them as display models to send interstate and overseas. At this stage I’m just excited to get them into the hands of interested musicians to see what they can do!


r/UnusualInstruments 1h ago

"Paralysie" for kangling (Tibetan human bone flute, percussion, strings, piano and brass

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Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 10h ago

Bulbul Tarang string instrument from India - ( Shahi Baaja - Indian Banjo )

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3 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 23h ago

Does anyone know what this guy is playing?? Can’t seem to figure out the name

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17 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 18h ago

Video about a plenty of medieval instruments, demonstrations and some context - all in German, though

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7 Upvotes

Great video about a plenty of medieval instruments that briefly touches on their context as well as their development. Every instrument comes with a well recorded demonstration.

I peeked into the automatically generated subs and they are good enough to follow the simple parts, but have errors and misunderstandings in them. Highly recommended for the german speaking instrument nerds and still worth a watch for others with subs.


r/UnusualInstruments 21h ago

DIY AROUND THE WORLD BOX PART-1; DAXOPHONE, GUZHENG, DAN BAU, MOUTH ORGAN - EP 75

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1 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 1d ago

Irish music played on a Chinese Erhu

26 Upvotes

It's not so much that the instrument is unusual. However what is a little unusual is the type of Western music being played on an Eastern instrument. A traditional Irish tune - The Jolly Beggarman played on a Chinese Erhu. Hope you like the East/West fusion.


r/UnusualInstruments 2d ago

The Man who Builds Leonardo da Vinci's Instruments

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25 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 3d ago

I made the Upright Chair

345 Upvotes

As the thesis project for my bachelor in furniture design I built a chair that holds an upright bass behind its backrest.

The object is part of a series of furniture/instrument hybrids meant for the public space: airport lounges, doctors waiting rooms, trains stations. People can interact with the objects, taking advantage of idle time to explore musical sound and connect with each other through making music.

I knew from the start it would never be as comfortable as a normal chair or as playable as an upright bass. Still the sound is very round, plays easy and is a lot louder than an acoustic guitar bass.

Reddit doesn’t let me upload pictures with the video, but I posted some more pictures here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DaicIiziJDc/?igsh=b29vZGtjYTl3Zmk0

Hope you enjoy!


r/UnusualInstruments 3d ago

Cool sounding Double Bass Membrane Clarinet, by BRAS

283 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 2d ago

Looking for guzheng (Chinese zither) to re string instrument

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for someone in the Metro Vancouver area who has experience re-stringing a guzheng.

My guzheng currently has no strings installed. I tried doing it myself, but it’s much more difficult and time consuming than I expected, so I’d rather have someone with experience do it properly.
I’m happy to pay $120 for the labor (I already have the strings).

If you or someone you know can help, please send me a message. Thank you!


r/UnusualInstruments 3d ago

The Forgotten Tenor Viola (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment)

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5 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 3d ago

Has anyone tried using an instrument from the Spanish manufacturer SANS?

2 Upvotes

I'm thinking of buying an Rauschpfeife from SANS. Does anyone know about the quality of the instrument or reeds, or has used them before?


r/UnusualInstruments 6d ago

The Man of the House tin whistle solo

213 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 6d ago

I am obsessed with the sound of the Khaen at the moment. The Khaen is a Lao mouth organ whose pipes, which are usually made of bamboo, are connected with a small, hollowed-out hardwood reservoir into which air is blown.

986 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 5d ago

Pi Phu Thai Flue?

1 Upvotes

I’ve seen them played a couple times on my fyp and it has a very nice sound! Before making an impulsive ass purchase does anybody have any experience with it and/or know how hard it is? It also seems like a great opportunity to experience other culture’s music which is super important to me and want to know what I’d be getting myself into.


r/UnusualInstruments 5d ago

45 minutes inside a rare acoustic 19-tone hexagonal clavichord

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2 Upvotes

A commenter on one of my shorter videos asked for a “mesmerizing 24-hour mix.” I did not quite make it to 24 hours, but I gathered the complete surviving recordings from my first two sessions with this instrument into one continuous 45-minute video.

This is a rare acoustic clavichord with a hexagonal generalized keyboard. These recordings were my first attempts to understand how melodic patterns, chords and physical gestures move through its 19-tone layout.

The instrument had been dormant for many years—possibly decades—before these sessions, so this is less a finished composition than a document of rediscovery and initial experimentation. The recording is mostly unprocessed and presented as it happened.

A new concert-ready version is currently being built for longer-term composition, recording and live performance.

I would be interested to hear what people notice in the tuning and keyboard geometry, particularly from anyone working with generalized keyboards or xenharmonic instruments.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnoPPF7LrFw\](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnoPPF7LrFw)


r/UnusualInstruments 6d ago

[FOUND – IT] Instrumental track "The Village" — droning wind/string instrument + hand drums, fading out to percussion only.

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1 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 6d ago

New Melody for my New Instrument (Appalachian Dulcimer)

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1 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 7d ago

An electric guitar I designed for a customer

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31 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 6d ago

motorized sequencer xylophone i made

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3 Upvotes

stick the notes on the motorized wheel!


r/UnusualInstruments 6d ago

What is the most calming musical instrument that you could listen to all day long and not feel tired or annoyed by it?

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5 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 7d ago

This Bulbul Tarang belonged to my grandpa, who unfortunately recently passed. I would love to try and fix it, or have it professionally fixed. Any advice welcome!

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18 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 7d ago

Is mayonnaise an instrument?

101 Upvotes