Chiff and Fipple Forums

Has anyone here invented a whole new instrument before? I suddenly had an Idea today of a new instrument combining the fingering of a 6 hole keyless flute or whistle with a Brass style mouthpiece. Brass is the only family of instruments I have basically no experience with, other than being able play the PVC/copper pipe (think plumbers messing around on the job, didgeridoo style). Playing a plain pipe limits you to only 1 or 2 notes. Adding toneholes could add a whole new range of notes, hopefully able to play a full scale. It's just an idea for now, but I'm wondering if anyone else had thought of something similar, or invented another type of new instrument themselves.

I'm also throwing around the idea of combining some type of stringed instrument with some type of woodwind. I have no clue how that would work or be played, It's just a crazy idea.
...and no, I'm not high, just creative and bored.

Novel indeed !

When you say "brass" mouthpiece, do you mean like a trumpet ?

Also, what you're describing sounds similar to a woodwind I've heard used at a contra-dance called a "bombarde". A bombarde uses a double-reed mouthpiece (like an oboe) with open (keyless) tone holes.

Here are a few links:

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vect ... -122845153

https://www.britannica.com/art/bombarde

Also, here is an instrument that uses a single-reed mouthpiece (like a clarinet). It's called a "xaphoon".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xaphoon

Have you made instruments before ? I went through a "making" phase about 10 years ago. Great fun. Very time consuming. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING matters !

trill

trill wrote:When you say "brass" mouthpiece, do you mean like a trumpet?

That's how I understood it. If our understanding is correct, Stev0 has an interesting idea. How to make it work properly, though, is a topic best addressed by others.

Stev0 wrote:I suddenly had an Idea today of a new instrument combining the fingering of a 6 hole keyless flute or whistle with a Brass style mouthpiece.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornett

Peter Duggan wrote:

Stev0 wrote:I suddenly had an Idea today of a new instrument combining the fingering of a 6 hole keyless flute or whistle with a Brass style mouthpiece.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornett

Yes! That's almost exactly what I was thinking of. I would have used a metal trumpet/horn style mouthpiece, and maybe a metal body as well, but wood would probobly have a richer, more organic kind of sound. Now to figure out how to get my hands on one.

You would be following in the footsteps of P. D. Q. Bach, who gave us the tromboon.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GKVg162kSDM

If this doesn’t convince you to continue on your quest I don’t know what will.

MikeS wrote:You would be following in the footsteps of P. D. Q. Bach, who gave us the tromboon.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GKVg162kSDM

Well that was... interesting...

Hilarious, too.

For some reason, it reminded me of the bikers' theme in Every Which Way But Loose.

Well, this isn’t a foreign concept, but I’m not sure if it’s been done with a banjo. The rim and hardware are together, I’m just waiting for my luthier friend to have the time to build the neck.
It’ll be a tenor/cello hybrid, 5 strings tuned CGDAE. I’ll probably call it a baritone banjo for simplicity even though Gold Tone already has a banjo in their lineup called that.
Like I said, it’s not a foreign concept considering all the 5-string fiddles and cellos out there (and 10-string mandolin/mandola hybrids). But I’ve never found any evidence of this being done to a banjo.
Some details are still in the air, such as scale length and metal vs. nylon strings. It might even be multi-scale, with a variance of 22.5” on the E to 24” on the C. My main concern with this is that it’ll angle the bridge too much and cause significant tonal changes as I go from one string to another.

Sounds like and early instrument called a Zink or Cornette