D. I. Why? 10 Instruments Made of Unlikely Materials

By: Ivan Munoz

More like “why not?” is what I say. I’m sure by now we’ve seen the various viral videos of people making ocarinas from bell peppers, flutes from carrots, and making beats with…well…beets.

However, the making of an instrument from quotidian objects is nothing new. On his 1970 album McCartney, the former Beatle had a song called Hot As Sun/Glasses, the latter half of which used wine glasses as instruments, making sound by filling up the glasses with water to determine pitch, and then rubbing his finger on the edge in a circle to conjure the tone. He repeated this use of playing wine glasses on the song How Kind Of You from his 2005 album Chaos And Creation In The Backyard, creating a looped backing track pad to sing and play over. Also let us not forget that the very first instruments, many dating back to neolithic times, were made from hitting rocks together, hollowing out and drilling holes in bamboo, and stretching animal skins over wooden frames.

Fortunately, that tradition of finding joy and making music out of just about anything still persists strongly in humanity. We are all still finding ways to create instruments from sometimes the strangest materials possible.

Here are 10 examples of DIY instruments crafted from the most unlikely of sources:

1. Ramen Guitar - The Perfect Instrument To “Noodle” On:

2. Cutting Edge - Coolest Thing You Ever “Saw”:

3. Veggie Melody - “Squashing” The Competition:

4. Badger Theremin - “Fur” Elise:

5. Madman’s Machine - Losing My Marbles:

6. PVC Marimba - Hittin’ The Pipe Never Felt This Good:

7. XyloStone - “Rock” Music:

8. Wine Glass Symphony - Putting The “Champ” In Champagne:

9. Cave Organ - “Buried Deep In A Cavity Is This Rock Hard Organ”:

10. Matchstick Strat - Strikingly Beautiful:

If you like this content, support Victor by visiting VictorRecords.com and signing up to our mailing list today! Join our historic movement for the future in taking back the music industry.

About The Author

Ivan Munoz is a musician, bassist, singer, musicians advocate, and member of the Victor Talking Machine Company. Along with this Ivan can be found devoting his time to various musical projects, compositions, and working on musical instruments. Click the photo for more!