we can’t believe he’s actually create
real music welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’ll be counting down our picks
for the top 10 strangest musical
instruments before we begin we publish
new content every day so be sure to
subscribe to our channel and ring the
bell to get notified about our latest
videos for this list we’ll be looking at
instruments which are actually used to
make music but are unconventional and
just plain strange when I press a key it
sends an electrical pulse up to a rubber
tipped mallet number 10 hurdy-gurdy
what’s all this hurdy-gurdy the
hurdy-gurdy of course believed to be the
modern version of the organist hram
which needed two musicians the
hurdy-gurdy was developed to only need
one it’s made of two main parts a crank
and keys the crank turns a wheel which
rubs the instrument strings to produce
noise and the keys create the melody the
crank can be spun harder to create
different tones as well
[Music]
while it hasn’t been that common in
popular mainstream music the hurdy-gurdy
has been making a comeback in recent
years having appeared in numerous songs
number nine octa base if you want some
deep bass in your music look no further
than the octa bass effectively a double
bass on steroids it’s 11 foot 5 inch or
3.4 8 meter height means players
actually have to stand on special
platforms and use levers to play it it’s
great if you want to produce a lower
than low bass sound even if human ears
can’t always hear it there are only
seven in existence and most are in
museums
however the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
obtained one in 2016
making it the only orchestra in the
world to include the octa bass in its
numbers number eight marble machine not
many of us have ever seen a connection
between marbles and music Martin Mullin
is the exception interested in the
marble machine subculture the Swedish
musician gave himself two months to
build one of his own he finally finished
16 months later but the delay was worth
it it’s essentially a giant music box
that uses a programmable wheel which
wind cranked causes thousands of marvels
to fall to create a melody using bass
vibraphone and percussion elements
seeing it in action is simply
jaw-dropping the best part is that the
marbles circulate back to the top so
there’s no limit to how long you can
play it as long as you can keep cranking
it number seven sharpest Korg
created by composer and sound engineer
Henry dag this pin barrel harp took five
years to finish and was set to be placed
in a Soundgarden with other musical
sculptures except that it wasn’t suited
to be kept outdoors but 2.5 ton machine
is also referred to as a pin barrel harp
because it uses a giant metal barrel
adorned with thousands of small pins
when the barrel turns the pins hit
levers and strings producing the
instrument soft tones the horns work to
amplify the sound and of course make the
instrument look more majestic the best
part is all you have to do is spin that
wheel number six
Picasso guitar in 1984 jazz musician Pat
Metheny asked a luthier Linda Mainzer to
build a guitar with as many strings as
possible enter the Picasso guitar with
42 strings the Picasso definitely didn’t
it’s for necks and unusually placed
headstock make it look like some kind of
musical mutation but if it’s mutant
power is sounding this smooth who are we
to judge weighing a hefty 15 pounds
there were two holes placed in it so
Metheny could play the guitar as it was
mounted on a stand
managers known for her otherworldly
guitars like the 52 string Medusa so she
wouldn’t expect anything less of the
[Music]
number five earth harp touted as an
architectural instrument the earth harp
is so huge that live listeners can
literally be inside the musical device
it was built in 1999 by William Close
and while it may have taken him a while
to fully master it when he did he
brought his skills to America’s Got
Talent in 2012 or he took home third
place
but his harp takes first place as the
world’s largest string instrument with
strings reaching to almost 1,000 feet
long it takes a ton of work to assemble
and disassemble but while not on tour
close keeps his earth harp close to his
workshop attached to a mountain in
Malibu California number 4 glass
harmonica everyone’s run their finger
around a room of glass but it’s hard to
call the results music in the mid 1700s
Benjamin Franklin yes that one took the
idea a step further
joining thirty-seven pitched glasses
together and instead of the player
moving their fingers the glasses
themselves would rotate it grew hugely
popular for a short amount of time
because of its heavenly crystalline
sound unfortunately its fragility and
lack of volume made it unsuitable to
play in large halls and people
gravitated towards the piano instead
leaving the glass armonica as an
endangered but unique instrument number
three sousaphone this is by far the
coolest looking entry so far the
sousaphone or if you’re more into Norse
mythology the thorah men are types of
Tesla coils that are modulated into
making music
bees singing coils produce lightning and
sound when they pierce the air when
merged with a media interface the coil
is effectively a plasma speaker which
creates a dazzling display of melodic
electricity
[Music]
sound wise the sousaphone sounds like a
funky old-school synth but seeing the
instruments in action is another thing
altogether how often do you get to see
choreographed Lightning number two the
great stalactite organ heralded as one
of the world’s biggest instruments the
great stalactite organ covers
approximately 3.5 acres in the Luray
Caverns in Virginia it was invented by
Leland W sprinkles starting in 1956 when
he visited the caverns with his son and
the boy banked his head on the
stalactite which emitted a hum after
shaving down rocks to get to the desired
notes sprinkle attached mallets to them
and connected them to an organ console
the instrument has a range of 37 notes
and the large cave gives it a very
unique sound but you can still feel the
faint echo of the cave even when
listening on headphones it’s something
incredibly different and wonderfully
beautiful before we unveil our top pick
here are a few honorable mentions
[Music]
[Applause]
number one theremin developed in 1920
the theremin was eventually named after
its inventor Leon theremin it was one of
the first electronic instruments and the
first instrument played without
requiring touch the player waves one
hand to affect the pitch and the other
to affect the volume closed waves
produce higher pitches while more
distance with your volume hands gives a
louder note later joined in the horror
sci-fi Department by the water phone the
theremin was the quintessential hair
razor back in the day and still sounds
the lack of touch definitely adds to the
creepiness but the theremin is actually
as versatile as it is novel do you agree
with our picks check out these other
great clips from watch mojo and be sure
to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos
real music welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’ll be counting down our picks
for the top 10 strangest musical
instruments before we begin we publish
new content every day so be sure to
subscribe to our channel and ring the
bell to get notified about our latest
videos for this list we’ll be looking at
instruments which are actually used to
make music but are unconventional and
just plain strange when I press a key it
sends an electrical pulse up to a rubber
tipped mallet number 10 hurdy-gurdy
what’s all this hurdy-gurdy the
hurdy-gurdy of course believed to be the
modern version of the organist hram
which needed two musicians the
hurdy-gurdy was developed to only need
one it’s made of two main parts a crank
and keys the crank turns a wheel which
rubs the instrument strings to produce
noise and the keys create the melody the
crank can be spun harder to create
different tones as well
[Music]
while it hasn’t been that common in
popular mainstream music the hurdy-gurdy
has been making a comeback in recent
years having appeared in numerous songs
number nine octa base if you want some
deep bass in your music look no further
than the octa bass effectively a double
bass on steroids it’s 11 foot 5 inch or
3.4 8 meter height means players
actually have to stand on special
platforms and use levers to play it it’s
great if you want to produce a lower
than low bass sound even if human ears
can’t always hear it there are only
seven in existence and most are in
museums
however the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
obtained one in 2016
making it the only orchestra in the
world to include the octa bass in its
numbers number eight marble machine not
many of us have ever seen a connection
between marbles and music Martin Mullin
is the exception interested in the
marble machine subculture the Swedish
musician gave himself two months to
build one of his own he finally finished
16 months later but the delay was worth
it it’s essentially a giant music box
that uses a programmable wheel which
wind cranked causes thousands of marvels
to fall to create a melody using bass
vibraphone and percussion elements
seeing it in action is simply
jaw-dropping the best part is that the
marbles circulate back to the top so
there’s no limit to how long you can
play it as long as you can keep cranking
it number seven sharpest Korg
created by composer and sound engineer
Henry dag this pin barrel harp took five
years to finish and was set to be placed
in a Soundgarden with other musical
sculptures except that it wasn’t suited
to be kept outdoors but 2.5 ton machine
is also referred to as a pin barrel harp
because it uses a giant metal barrel
adorned with thousands of small pins
when the barrel turns the pins hit
levers and strings producing the
instrument soft tones the horns work to
amplify the sound and of course make the
instrument look more majestic the best
part is all you have to do is spin that
wheel number six
Picasso guitar in 1984 jazz musician Pat
Metheny asked a luthier Linda Mainzer to
build a guitar with as many strings as
possible enter the Picasso guitar with
42 strings the Picasso definitely didn’t
it’s for necks and unusually placed
headstock make it look like some kind of
musical mutation but if it’s mutant
power is sounding this smooth who are we
to judge weighing a hefty 15 pounds
there were two holes placed in it so
Metheny could play the guitar as it was
mounted on a stand
managers known for her otherworldly
guitars like the 52 string Medusa so she
wouldn’t expect anything less of the
[Music]
number five earth harp touted as an
architectural instrument the earth harp
is so huge that live listeners can
literally be inside the musical device
it was built in 1999 by William Close
and while it may have taken him a while
to fully master it when he did he
brought his skills to America’s Got
Talent in 2012 or he took home third
place
but his harp takes first place as the
world’s largest string instrument with
strings reaching to almost 1,000 feet
long it takes a ton of work to assemble
and disassemble but while not on tour
close keeps his earth harp close to his
workshop attached to a mountain in
Malibu California number 4 glass
harmonica everyone’s run their finger
around a room of glass but it’s hard to
call the results music in the mid 1700s
Benjamin Franklin yes that one took the
idea a step further
joining thirty-seven pitched glasses
together and instead of the player
moving their fingers the glasses
themselves would rotate it grew hugely
popular for a short amount of time
because of its heavenly crystalline
sound unfortunately its fragility and
lack of volume made it unsuitable to
play in large halls and people
gravitated towards the piano instead
leaving the glass armonica as an
endangered but unique instrument number
three sousaphone this is by far the
coolest looking entry so far the
sousaphone or if you’re more into Norse
mythology the thorah men are types of
Tesla coils that are modulated into
making music
bees singing coils produce lightning and
sound when they pierce the air when
merged with a media interface the coil
is effectively a plasma speaker which
creates a dazzling display of melodic
electricity
[Music]
sound wise the sousaphone sounds like a
funky old-school synth but seeing the
instruments in action is another thing
altogether how often do you get to see
choreographed Lightning number two the
great stalactite organ heralded as one
of the world’s biggest instruments the
great stalactite organ covers
approximately 3.5 acres in the Luray
Caverns in Virginia it was invented by
Leland W sprinkles starting in 1956 when
he visited the caverns with his son and
the boy banked his head on the
stalactite which emitted a hum after
shaving down rocks to get to the desired
notes sprinkle attached mallets to them
and connected them to an organ console
the instrument has a range of 37 notes
and the large cave gives it a very
unique sound but you can still feel the
faint echo of the cave even when
listening on headphones it’s something
incredibly different and wonderfully
beautiful before we unveil our top pick
here are a few honorable mentions
[Music]
[Applause]
number one theremin developed in 1920
the theremin was eventually named after
its inventor Leon theremin it was one of
the first electronic instruments and the
first instrument played without
requiring touch the player waves one
hand to affect the pitch and the other
to affect the volume closed waves
produce higher pitches while more
distance with your volume hands gives a
louder note later joined in the horror
sci-fi Department by the water phone the
theremin was the quintessential hair
razor back in the day and still sounds
the lack of touch definitely adds to the
creepiness but the theremin is actually
as versatile as it is novel do you agree
with our picks check out these other
great clips from watch mojo and be sure
to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos
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