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VIDEO: The World's Most Irritating Instrument

Meet the Savart's Wheel, a tuned rasp instrument performed by legendary instrument inventor, Bart Hopkin. There are thirty discs placed on a rotating spindle, each with ridges placed on the edges. Hopkin uses hand-held styrofoam cups with plastic plectrums as the means of playing/amplifying the notes. (Styrofoam is a great resonating material!)

Enjoy the irritating sounds as Hopkin plays Somewhere Over the Rainbow! (We're hoping that he records a Christmas album on the Savart's Wheel someday...)

Learn more about the Savart's Wheel by visiting Bart Hopkin's website.

A note from Shane Speal: Bart Hopkin's work has been highly influential in my study of DIY instruments. The back issues of his now out-of-print magazine, "Experimental Musical Instruments" are an essential resource. This book contains all of the canjo-building how-to info that Ben "Gitty" Baker has gleaned over almost a decade of building these fun, easy-to-play instruments. Canjos are one of the easiest homemade instruments to build, and now you have all of the how-to guidance you need right at your fingertips! This guide is chock-full of detailed color photos and diagrams to walk you through each step of canjo-building.

How to Build a Canjo - $9.99

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on September 11, 2017 at 4:55am

would make winding pickups more interesting .

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on September 11, 2017 at 8:42pm

"Enjoy The Irritating Sounds", You got that right.

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Permalink Reply by JL on September 12, 2017 at 2:07am

You have to try hard to outdo the bagpipes, LOL

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Permalink Reply by Timothy Hunter on September 12, 2017 at 2:15am

oi !!! nothing wrong with bagpipes...lol ( ex Pipe Band drummer) lol

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Permalink Reply by Titch the Clown on June 15, 2018 at 10:50am

Nothing much wrong with bagpipes, you just need the right person playing them.

https://youtu.be/8RbVuDuCYMY

And it helps if they wear a skirt.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Dean on September 12, 2017 at 2:46am

The only thing missing is someone with a voice like gargling sawdust to sing along...

and I like bagpipes too, AC/DC a long way to top if you wanna rock-n-roll !!

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Permalink Reply by Cigar Box Nation on September 12, 2017 at 3:41am

Yoko Ono.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on September 12, 2017 at 8:37am

A perfect pair. Gives me the heebee geebees just thinking about it.

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Permalink Reply by Andy Busch on September 12, 2017 at 5:16am

Yea. Pretty ugly. Sorta takes the glass harmonica concept and gives it a big middle finger! But...have any of you guys done any exploring on Bart's website? I think it's REALLY cool! Some of the instruments he invented and plays are just weird and not very pleasant-sounding. But some of them are really beautiful! Inspired by Bart's pot harp (I think that's its name)--I have a couple of old stew pots at home that I'm going to make into some kind of harp. His floating guitar is really pretty-sounding too. And IMO he plays pretty well. I like the gongs too.