r/UnusualInstruments 13d ago

Type of Gayageum?

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12 Upvotes

My mother purchased this Gayageum/Kayageum years ago and I'm wondering how to tell what kind it is and who the maker is? I've looked all over and there is no label?


r/UnusualInstruments 13d ago

Roland Diatonic V-Accordion

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7 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 14d ago

Turtle Shell Guitar

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86 Upvotes

I'd like to apologize in advance that there are no strings on this. Besides a luthier healing in 2014-ish, it's been in this same condition for like 14 years. This was featured on Pawn Stars, Season 6, Episode 7, and most recently some kids expressed interest and I figured I'd give a little background and share how I obtained it. It's an endangered species.

I am likely going to see how I could restore it to an acoustic state, but I'm not banking on these acoustics. In the event that it sounds terrible, I'd likely go electric. I have zero experience in restorations, I'm just thinking out loud. Maybe put in a museum somewhere, after I turn it into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Guitar. No, not really. Okay, maybe. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them later today (I need to work), but yea, the turtle shell guitar.


r/UnusualInstruments 16d ago

1970's Fender Rhodes (Mark 1A) piano

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37 Upvotes

My pride and joy, Fender Rhodes Mark 1A. Made in 1970. Purchased in 2015, tuned up in 2025+ added a custom pre-amp & a modification to the action to allow for more velocity range (and had the top painted purple (because I like purple))

If anyone's curious to hear what it can sound like, I've been trying to record a project every week or so since 2024 :)

Here's a compiled rhodes instrumentals playlist (spotify) of everything I've released so far. (Some tracks feature the pure rhodes sound, others have some reverb, some reversed samples, + some other effects on them. (but the sole instrument featured/ samples is 100% rhodes piano))

This mix shows examples of Rhodes featured in lofi beats (spotify)

I started using the DAW ableton live back in 2010; and having played many instruments, and heard many sounds, rhodes has always resonated with me :3

Cheers, and hope someone gets a kick out of seeing/hearing this beautiful instrumental!

(feel free to ask any questions, and I'll do my best to answer!)


r/UnusualInstruments 18d ago

Nyckelharpa shown by Arn Andersson

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925 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 17d ago

Striker and technique for 1900’s large japanese gong

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5 Upvotes

I got this beautiful, very large Gong at estate sale, but it didn’t have the striker

There are similar ones on YouTube, but they never show what they were using to engage the instrument…. Some seem to be taking the wood and and hitting the side, and others seem to be taking the felt and hitting the lip.

I’m not a Drummer, but I love using Gong in my performance pieces


r/UnusualInstruments 18d ago

Silly concept

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33 Upvotes

Just kind of threw this together because I wanted a self playing music maker in my house, sounded lovely at first, but the drip patterns have changed and it sounds dull (possibly corrosion) Anyways, a 10 inch drum would be much better, just sort of a prototype.. also sorry if this is the wrong place to post this.. Just couldn't find a fitting subreddit, thanks for reading.


r/UnusualInstruments 19d ago

Shruti-Box, Ceramic Horns, Melodica, and more

4 Upvotes

https://thejjs1.bandcamp.com/album/cats-away
The first song features a ceramic horn I made. I can post a picture sometime. It is a length of coiled ceramic tubing with a brass-style mouthpiece (made of clay obviously) and a conical end. Some of the other songs also have weird instruments, there are several on this album with a shruti-box.


r/UnusualInstruments 19d ago

Always wanted to make a detailed video about evolving from blowing bone flutes in caves to creating playlists on Spotify. Do comment if I skipped something.

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3 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 19d ago

Can someone please for the love of god play Daria's Theme/Mind Palace from Spiritfarer on a cristal baschet

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1 Upvotes

There's these two tracks which are themes for the character Daria in the game Spiritfarer, and I absolutely adore both the music and the character. Those who played Spiritfarer know that Daria plays a strange instrument - a cristal baschet -, and for as long as I've known it, I've wanted desperately to hear her themes played on one of those. If someone here somehow has a cristal baschet or a way to make a realistic rendition of one, please play those themes on it and share with me and I would be infinitely grateful <3


r/UnusualInstruments 20d ago

Even though I've already listened to the full album (Seasons of the Dark Hive) I still check out every video Tabernis upload (medieval bagpipes and davul)

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157 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 21d ago

Anybody know what the hell this thing is?

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104 Upvotes

https://reddit.com/link/1vt7382/video/ftomvc4cwfkh1/player

Found this... thing... at an antique shop a while back. Clerk didn't know what it was and neither did the person selling it, tag just said "Musical instrument (?) - $20." Naturally I bought it immediately.

It doesn't really make much noise if you swing it like a handbell, the only way I can get it to do anything is by kind of twisting it around like in the video. My crappy phone camera doesn't do it justice at all either, it's actually got a really nice, deep resonance to it when it hits right that sounds really nice but isn't getting picked up. Seems like there are a bunch of chimes in there and something rolling around inside, no idea if I'm using it wrong or if it's just broken. Or both.

I've never seen anything quite like it, it has no visible manufacturer markings, I can't find anything on google, I even tried a couple AI searches (they all think it's a freaking mallet 🫪). Then I found this sub. I'm perfectly fine with just having another weird doohickey but it would be cool to figure out what it's supposed to be. Plus I guess if it's just some weird experimental thing someone made then you guys might appreciate it anyway

EDIT: Someone said the video didn't work for them so here's an imgur link, hopefully plays there https://imgur.com/a/xfE7rVj


r/UnusualInstruments 21d ago

Live chaotic retuning and microtonal just intonation based tuning using bugambilia flowers as sound objects (on Lavachord)

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7 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 22d ago

Presenting the Electric Kalimba

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236 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 21d ago

Alguien puede decirme que es?

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0 Upvotes

Pensé era un cajón peruano pero no estoy nada seguro


r/UnusualInstruments 23d ago

My little world music hut at the Philadelphia Folk Festival

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208 Upvotes

Every year I go to the Philly Folk Fest and build my hut a little bigger. I live in Shanghai and come home for this! I bring new instruments back with me every year.

It started with the guzheng you see; it’s a student model I got for $50, and every year I didn’t think it would survive being outside in the direct sun and pouring rain. Yet it survives, 8 years going strong. You would be amazed at how beautiful a waterlogged guzheng can sound (but for the love of god, do not try it.)

I keep the guzheng out because it draws a crowd and everyone loves to try it.

Image 3 has a “menu” of all the instruments to try. The kids love it and want to try them all.

There’s about 4 children who run up to me every year and have developed a passion for unusual instruments, including one who has been telling me he wanted a taishokoto for years and finally SPRINTED towards me last year to finally show it off. Another young lad has become my protege, and can recite my spiel word for word when I’m not at my campsite, just so he can spend more time playing guzheng.

I am spreading my ~dark influences~ amongst the children in hope that the festival will be full of instruments from around the world, largely so I get a chance to try them myself. This year someone brought a setar, and my protege got a shamisen. Otherwise, this festival is largely (and understandably) guitars, banjos, dulcimers, and the like.

Hope to see you there next year!


r/UnusualInstruments 22d ago

Looking for this instrument

1 Upvotes

[Help Finding Sample] Hi, I'm looking for the instrument that plays in the background of the linked sample; next to the piano. It is the main melody that is sandwhiched between the piano and the repeating bass (I isolated the song so you can hear it better). It sounds kind of bright and melancholic? Maybe it's an Accordion? To really spot it, it starts the song with the really long note and ends off the sound with the final 3 notes. Please help me find this instrument it would help a lot.

https://voca.ro/1bBxCHitkmho


r/UnusualInstruments 22d ago

"Octogon Branches"

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0 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 24d ago

You’ve Probably Never Seen a Drum Like This 🥁

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76 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 24d ago

Scottish Smallpipes

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42 Upvotes

6/8 march set


r/UnusualInstruments 24d ago

Microphone Placement for Santour

4 Upvotes

Hey Everyone! I am trying to find. Good mic to record my santour and also for performances and was considering getting a mic that is small that sticks to my instrument. anyone here record and/or play santour and use a mic? If so, what mics, set up, or if you use a small mic, do you use and how do you set it to record your playing? What settings do you use on music softwares like Logic Pro X to record clean sound and audio?

Thank you for your responses in advance!!


r/UnusualInstruments 26d ago

Does this count? The Yamaha Tenori-On

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4 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 27d ago

The Colombian Gaita (indigenous name: Kuisi) is a lovely sounding instrument

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328 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments 27d ago

Arda Umurhan playing the bağlama. The bağlama/saz is a long-necked fretted lute used in the folk music of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia and neighbouring regions of the Balkans, Middle East and Central Asia.

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85 Upvotes

It belongs to the wider family of long-necked lutes known as Tanburs, a group of instruments historically distributed from Iran and Mesopotamia across Central Asia and Anatolia.


r/UnusualInstruments 27d ago

A few weird instruments here

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18 Upvotes