From the familiar piano and flute to the soaring violin, we’ve all heard the classic family of musical tools. Yet hidden among these well‑known staples are a handful of truly oddball creations that push the boundaries of design, sound, and sheer imagination. Below you’ll find the top 10 strangest musical instruments ever built, each a testament to human curiosity and inventive flair.
Why These Are the Top 10 Strangest Instruments
10 Pikasso Guitar
Crafted by master luthier Linda Manzer, the Pikasso Guitar looks like a cubist painting brought to life. Its wedge‑shaped body hosts four separate necks, two sound holes, and an astonishing 42 strings, giving it a visual complexity that mirrors its sonic possibilities. Pat Metheny, the jazz virtuoso for whom it was originally commissioned, has woven its ethereal tones into a number of his recordings, proving that this instrument is as functional as it is flamboyant.
See also: The 10 hottest women singers.
9 Nyckelharpa
The Nyckelharpa hails from Sweden and is often hailed as one of the oldest surviving string instruments. Its name translates to “key harp,” reflecting its distinctive layout of 37 wooden keys that press against the strings to change pitch. Typically, a Nyckelharpa boasts 16 strings, and its resonant, resonant timbre has been enchanting listeners since the early 14th century.
8 Glass Armonica
Invented by the polymath Benjamin Franklin, the Glass Armonica—also known as the Bowl Organ or Hydrocrystallophone—features an array of glass bowls and goblets of varying diameters mounted on a rotating spindle. When a performer’s wet fingertips glide along the rims, the bowls vibrate, producing hauntingly pure tones. First introduced in 1762, the instrument enjoyed a brief period of popularity across Europe before falling into relative obscurity, only to be revived in modern experimental music circles.
7 Zeusaphone
The Zeusaphone—sometimes called a Singing Tesla Coil or Thoremin—marriages the raw power of a Tesla coil with precise digital control to create music from electrical sparks. Its name pays homage to the gods Zeus and Thor, reflecting the thunderous nature of its output. Though the raw frequency lies beyond human hearing, clever modulation translates the arcs into audible pitches, turning plasma into a surprisingly melodic medium.
6 Branching Corrugahorn
Inventor Bart Hopkin turned ordinary corrugated plumbing tubes into a whimsical wind instrument called the Branching Corrugahorn. The device consists of a single mouthpiece attached to a series of flexible pipes of differing lengths. By covering and uncovering the tube openings with his fingers while blowing, the player selects which pipe resonates, producing a cascade of quirky, breath‑driven tones.
5 Hydraulophone
The Hydraulophone is essentially an organ that uses water (or other liquids) as its sound‑producing medium. Conceived by Steve Mann, the instrument features a series of water‑filled pipes with holes that the player blocks with their fingers, redirecting flow and creating pitch‑specific tones. It doubles as a tactile exploration tool for the visually impaired, and the Ontario Science Center in Canada proudly houses the world’s largest example of this fluid‑filled marvel.
4 Singing Ringing Tree
Perched on the Pennine Hills of England, the Singing Ringing Tree is a 3‑metre‑tall sculpture that doubles as a wind‑driven instrument. Designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu and installed in 2006, the work consists of galvanized steel pipes of varying lengths, each pierced with strategically placed holes. As the wind whistles through these apertures, the pipes emit eerie, melodic sounds that echo across the landscape.
3 Theremin
The Theremin, originally dubbed the Aetherphone, is a pioneering electronic instrument that you play without ever touching it. Russian inventor Leon Theremin introduced it in 1920, and its two metal antennas sense the proximity of the performer’s hands. One antenna controls pitch, the other volume, allowing the musician to glide between notes with a ghostly, violin‑like quality—making it a staple of sci‑fi soundtracks and avant‑garde performances.
2 Sharpsichord
The Sharpsichord is a solar‑powered, barrel‑harp hybrid invented by Henry Dagg. Its heart is a massive perforated cylinder containing a staggering 11,520 tiny holes. Musicians insert pins into these openings to program a sequence, and as the cylinder rotates, the pins pluck strings in a pre‑determined pattern. Each performance lasts up to 90 seconds before the cylinder must be re‑programmed, offering a fleeting glimpse of mechanized melody.
1 Stalacpipe Organ
Created in 1956 by Pentagon scientist LeIand W. Sprinkle, the Great Stalacpipe Organ reigns as the world’s largest musical instrument. It occupies more than three acres within Virginia’s Luray Caverns, where rubber‑tipped mallets strike stalactites of differing sizes in response to a conventional keyboard. The resulting tones reverberate throughout the cavern without amplification, and in 2011 the Swedish group Pepe Deluxe became the first to record an original composition on this subterranean marvel.