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It is said the world’s best violins come with strings made from catgut – which sounds bit of weird and uncomfortable to somebody. Thus, if you cannot try with those violins, you may take the violin with strings made from spider silk into account. In Japan, a researcher Dr Shigeyoshi Osaki has used thousands of strands of spider silk to produce a set of violin strings, which announced to have a “soft and profound timbre” compared to gut.

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Because it’s not the first foldable guitar we’ve ever seen or introduced here, this one from designers Shlomi Daniel and Uri Nir must have gotten its own unique features, e.g. its tension release mechanism that promises the guitar a perfect timbre even after it is repeatedly folded and unfolded. Still, like all other foldable guitars, the instrument could be easily and conveniently carried around for a outdoor use.

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Daily practice. That’s the No. 1 principle you need to keep in mind if you ever dream to play the guitar well. But the real guitar is so big that it’s not suitable to be taken anywhere, for you to play with it again and again. Thus we’d like to recommend this PocketString device to you. It’s smart and lightweight, and its tiny 4 fret board would let you practice the fundamentals at any place and any time. It’s going to be available next month for less than $30.

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You see it is little, it’s in your pocket, and it’s a piano! Handmade and packs a vibrato synth, harmonic sweeper, two-octave arpeggiator, octave cascade, mono FM synth, and FM arpeggiator, the synthesizer can work either individually or with other devices such as drum machines, sequencers, computers and so on. Since words cannot let you know clearly what the Pocket Piano would make, let’s now show you a video!

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“Ministar” is a portable electric guitar featuring both a smart body and a full function. It’s only nineteen inches long, composed of a neck and head while lacking a guitar body. Even so, the guitar can still perform well in creating beautiful music, just as you can see in the video below.

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Certainly it’s not the first time we introduce foldable instruments, however Brian Chen’s Foldable Ukuleles still impresses us. Made with laser-cut bamboo plywood, the ukulele is simple to assemble, costing you merely about half a day. More importantly, with a foldable function, the ukulele could be conveniently transported everywhere: simply fold it up and go on your trip.

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Annoying mornings again, with continuous cacophony of alarm clocks… Why couldn’t we wake up with something more intriguing? Such as the Guitar Alarm designed by Jamie McMahon. Handmade of birch plywood, walnut and stainless steel, the new alarm works in the same way as a musical instrument, sounding at the time set when powered. As it doesn’t show time at all, the piece can also be used as an artwork for home décor.

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How to slim pianos down and let them go into the houses of many more people? There’re several possible methods, one of which is this “Flat Piano” concept by Yun Jin-yeong and Jeong Seong-hun. The new piano looks bit of the same as items sold by IKEA, featuring modular units that can be assembled together, and therefore ensures a more convenient transportation.

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Steve Jobs is gone, but we’re glad to see that his Apple still continues changing our life. The Floating Orchestra is rightly something controlled by iPhone. The electronic instrument is mainly composed of several levitating balls, 19 air compressors and certain applications, and the users need to adjust the height of the balls to determine their volume.  Just enjoy the orchestra’s performance with the video below.

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For people with hearing problems, the Beyond Silence digital piano is the best thing they may get to help them listen to music. Put forward merely as a concept now, the music instrument is built with a diaphragm that creates stronger vibrations and music waves, and therefore the piano would let hearing-impaired people listen to music by feeling the wave and vibration of each tune from the resonance board. I’m quite looking forward to see this piano commercialized and hopefully people with hearing problems will soon be brought to the world of music. [Read the rest of this entry...]

They’re not ordinary glasses as they look. With detailed calibration on their bodies, these glasses can be used to play music when they’re filled with expected amounts of liquid. So interesting.

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If you’re looking for a special electric guitar – one that only belongs to you, you may get an inspiration from these modular guitars. Their bodies are made of different kinds of materials, as the designers provide customized guitars according to clients’ various requirements. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Is there a more luxurious piano than this? The 88-key digital piano comes with a beautiful wood grain, built-in speakers, and even a cradle to hold an iPad. Therefore you can either enjoy moving music from the piano’s amplified speaker system by plugging in an iPad, or create some sound by playing the piano. But whatever you choose, you’ll be always taken to the stage by the Concert Piano. [Read the rest of this entry...]

When Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, he may never have imagined that the device could become so “slim” after several important changes. But R.D. Silva does make the phonograph change quite much. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Guitar strings don’t just produce beautiful sound, and in fact they create an amazing atmosphere in and out of the stage as well. With guitar strings glowing and moving in the dark, any band can bring the public into a more fantastic world of music. [Read the rest of this entry...]

The super-cute snail ukulele was specially made for one of the designer’s friends. It uses hard and soft maple as main materials, which constitutes the “neck” and “head” of the snail. To make sure that the instrument will have a good performance, the designer also builds volume and tone controlling buttons on it. If you’d like similar or other types of instrument, you may contact with the designer for an order too. [Read the rest of this entry...]

To get a full appreciation of what a guitar means to us, we’ve collected these wonderful creations from all over the world. Each of them features a unique, outstanding appearance, which may make guitars more like artistic works rather than instruments. But whatever they look, we can still find the designers’ love for music, and that’s actually the most important thing for a guitar. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Nobody would like to collect old cans, plastic or floorboards, but I would, simply because I’d love to make an interesting guitar by myself. But before you see my work, you can now check out some awesome DIY guitars here. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Matt Braun’s wine bottle can sing! You’d like to know how the bottle works? Well, drink down to a particular level, blow into the bottle and you’ll find it playing a note. Isn’t that great? [Read the rest of this entry...]

Rain Drum, a recent work from a South Korea-based designer Dong Min Park, has been very popular on the Internet, and deemed as “an interesting amusement for boring rainy days”. The shade of the umbrella is made up of five different wax cloths, to imitate the different frequency of the hi-hat, crash, tom-tom, bass and snare. So next time you’re in the rain with such an umbrella, you’ll surely experience something new and enjoyable. [Read the rest of this entry...]

In my humble opinion, the design seems like a terrible idea, resulting needless complexity since the piano may get wet if you carelessly pour water on the table… Of course, you won’t agree with me, if you’re just in the necessity to place a bulky piano inside your small department. So consider it for a second, the idea of the Piano Table seems quite valuable. So you like it? For $6000, you still like it? OMG! [Read the rest of this entry...]

If you think only certain instruments like the guitars and pianos could clearly show us how music is played, then let me correct you because the Noteput Music Table can perform that task as well as the instruments, or even better. It is an interactive musical device, allowing you to see, to hear and to feel the music simultaneously. The musical table employs the camera-based marker tracking, which could identify each note and their positions. So music (or sound) would then be created and heard as you place the musical notes onto the table. The notes could be played by using the sound of different instruments.

Hit the jump for the video… [Read the rest of this entry...]

Paintbrushes help you to draw beautiful pictures and instruments assist you to create celestial music. But the pencil we’re to argue today, however, also creates sound as you paint with it. How? Well, the secret is the sensor built inside the tip, which could detect the movements and therefore produce various sounds.

Video after the jump. [Read the rest of this entry...]

I know, I know, it’s merely a T-shirt with drums pictures on the front, nothing special. But would I really introduce something so ordinary to you? Oh, guys, you should have had trust in me. To tell you the truth, these drums are not merely decorations, but ‘real instruments’ that make a sound when you give a tap at them. Have a try! [Read the rest of this entry...]

The thought never flash through the gamers’ mind that he or she could do something special for the game and other gamers. And the Famicom Guitar is rightly made to celebrate a gaming gathering. Coming with striking red and white, it is really a cute guitar, and especially perfect for kids.

Well, I like that! The ocarina here points us another feature of iPhone, that is, blows to produce music. A wonderful idea, right? But to turn the phone into an ocarina, you firstly have to get two more iPhones and a fixer (a laser cut body, for example). Totally three iPhones! OMG, no wonder the iPhone Ocarina is deemed as the most expensive one all around the world.

Inspiration! The inspiration of music is nature, life, and it usually comes to us all of a sudden. So to create shocking music, we may have to try those inspirations out whenever and wherever possible. And here is a portable Stylophone Beatbox, allowing you to mix and record your sounds all the time. It includes three sound modes, Drum Kit, Beatbox and Bass Stylophone. Wow, so everyone could be a DJ now, cool! [Read the rest of this entry...]

To the young office stuff, working is to some extent bull and boring. What better way, the youth ask, could add fun to work? My answer is the Washboard Necktie. It is made of stainless steel, measuring 18 inches long and 4 inches wide. And the main attraction of the tie is a pair of thimbles for strumming, so that you can play a beautiful piano piece while at work. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Who is Otamatone? Dressed in either white or black clothes, Otamatone is a cute instrument from Japan that produces weird, monotonous sounds, ahhhhh…and you’ll find its funny performance in the video downside. Otamatone is played in a straight forward way, just slide or press any part of the tail switch, it then starts to sing. And when you squeeze its mouth, a vibrato effect will be created. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Have you ever met a clock that tells time with a beautiful mechanical dance and accompanied by a melody? If not, then you’re really fortunate to know about Seiko Dynamic Melody here. It is an elegant clock, of which the dial plate keeps changing when it alarms. And at that moment, you’ll see a flower gradually appears, according to the melody you select. Fantastic!!

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Aiming to diversify and personalize acoustic instruments, the ‘Rezon’ has recently appeared in our visual field. It has 2 octaves and 15 tones per octave. The tone pitch is decided by the different bar heights, the lower octave is on one side while the higher is on the other side. No matter you twitch the bars with your fingers or strike them with metal rings, you could always enjoy an inventive music.

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You could never fancy owning such a mini karaoke, merely the same size as a Moto phone! Apart from the basic function to play music, the innovative player is also your personal musical instrument to meet your unexpected needs of singing a song or making some phonetic notes. Only with one ORIO, you may change any places into your solo concerts!

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Music, delicacy, the wooden drumstick spoons have brought us the two most important elements of our life, even before Rock Band. When cooking meals, may you also wish to add into them some beautiful music on your own? Have a try!

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Made by a math professor, this musical instrument allows you to play it by tapping the 24 strings on the 24 frets.

Video after the jump [Read the rest of this entry...]

With a piano shape, this PC is created for whoever like to play piano. [Read the rest of this entry...]

This is a combination of Guitar, Bass, Banjo and Mandolin. It wonder who can play it? [Read the rest of this entry...]

This W-shaped gadget which has two section features six laser beams. Because of the unique built-in sensor, it allows you to play 30 pre-loaded songs like a musician.

It can connect with PC or laptop via the USB port. [Read the rest of this entry...]

If you have already had an AirGuitar, you might be thinking about other musical instrument which could also be played in mid air.

The silverlit V-beat Airdrumbs kit is a good choice. Unlike ordinary drums, you don’t have to prepare a large space for it, what you need to do is just swipe the sticks in mid air, and music gonna be generated from by detecting the motion of the sticks. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Similar to iAno, this application could change your iPhone/ iPod Touch into a guitar. [Read the rest of this entry...]

This application is a brilliant idea, which allows you to play piano on your iPhone and iPod touch. [Read the rest of this entry...]