Do you know what’s cooler than playing a musical instrument? Playing friggin’ 20 instruments at the same time. Ukraine-based indie rock band Brunettes Shoot Blondes wanted to do something different for their newest single “Houston”’s music video, so they took 20 different instruments, crammed them inside an old 19th century grand piano, and fit them…

We’ve all had remarkable careers as air drummers at least some point in our lives. And no matter how musically incompetent we think we are, there’s always a beat sitting somewhere deep in our bones just ready to bust out. For folks who want to take their air drumming mastery a step further, the Oddball…

The last time we checked in with Swedish musician Martin Molin, he had just completed building a 3,000–piece wood marble machine that uses 2,000 marbles to ring sweet melodies into our ears. While the original Marble Machine YouTube video has racked up nearly 22 million views since he released it earlier this year, Molin has…

Few objects have the same level of rebellious punk cred as a pair of black Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars (see: Ramones), so it’s no surprise that the brand has always tried to appeal to music fans over the years with various limited editions and marketing campaigns. For their latest––and perhaps silliest––Converse Chuck Taylor yet,…

Considering how pianos can become the centerpiece of a living area within a home, it’s surprising that we haven’t seen more collaborations between instrument manufacturers and hand-crafted furniture manufacturers. If we did, we’d probably see a lot more pianos like the KIYOLA ‘Made In Japan’ Series KF-10 from Roland and Karimoku Furniture. Designed by Karimoku’s…

Unless you’ve been churning out legendary solos, filling stadiums, and selling millions of records since the 1970s, the likelihood of having your own signature guitar model is pretty slim. Launching this week, the new Fender Mod Shop is changing all that and will now let anybody design and customize their own signature guitar model from…

As one of the most memorable parts of Mike Judge’s 1999 film Office Space, the infamous “Printer Scene” gave an honest look at how some of us really feel about our office equipment when it fails to work as intended. While it may not reach the same level of badassery as seen in the film,…

Having received multiple awards from countless institutions as well as being a favorite for the world’s elite, Steinway & Sons pianos continue to pass all standards since the company was founded by German immigrant Henry Steinway in a loft in New York City in 1853. Unsurprisingly, making the world’s best piano is a time-honored process…

From removing his socks with a handbuilt rocket launcher to creating a working homemade hoverbike, garage inventor Colin Furze has somehow managed to keep his limbs intact over the past few months – which is saying a lot, because his projects as of late have been getting bigger, faster and certainly a lot more explosive. With…

With a deep fascination of what they call the “common territories between architecture and music”, designers Marcelo Ertorteguy and Sara Valente of NYC design studio Stereotank operate somewhere at the intersection of architecture, art and sound. Although the team is used to working at a large-scale, they’ve recently turned their attention to creating hybrid objects…

Although you may not have heard it by name, there’s a strong chance that you’ve heard it in song. Analog Moog Synthesizers have been used by nearly every well-known pop musician over the past 50 years from Damon Albarn to Frank Zappa. Now, you can build your own Moog with a little DIY ingenuity and…

Unless you have the same songwriting chops as Bob Dylan, it’s probably best to stick with putting bananas on your breakfast cereal rather than pursuing them as a musical instrument. In any case, that may soon change. Ableton, makers of the hit professional music production software Live, wants users to set up new and experimental…

Hanging out with the world’s most famous bands including Metallica, Coldplay, The Grateful Dead and The Rolling Stones might sound like a fantasy for most, but for Ross Garfield (AKA “The Drum Doctor”), it’s just a part of everyday life. Since 1981, the drum specialist has been making house calls and “tour calls” to fix…

In the vast and wonderful world of guitar pedals, it can be hard to stick out from the crowd, but 21-year veteran guitar pedal builder Zachary Vex just might have developed the strangest and most unique pedal to date: the Z.VEX Candela Vibrophase. Powered entirely by a tea light candle, the vibrato/phaser is a highly-efficient…

Comprising of 3,000 wood pieces, 2,000 marbles, and the patience of a 16th Century Zen Master, the Wintergartan Marble Machine by Swedish musician Martin Molin is certainly unlike any other instrument you’ve seen before. Although the machine looks like a highly-complicated loom that could knit you the most satisfying sweater ever, it is instead a…

Anyone who plays the electric guitar knows the struggle of finding the perfect guitar – something that both sounds amazing and matches your personal style. While classic profiles such as the Les Paul, the Telecaster and of course, the infamous Stratocaster can fit the sound and style of many different musicians, it is sometimes the…

As a result of the increase in customization in mass manufactured products, so too has the interest in how products are actually built…and why not? Building things is just as fun as owning them! While the likes of various 3D printers and Arduino kits have taken the Making community by storm, there have also been…

If you were to pluck a stranger from the street, sit that person down, and ask them to rattle-off a list of famous instrument makers, they might begin by listing famous guitar manufacturers and piano builders (after looking at you very oddly and protecting their wallet and organs). If you were to then ask that…

Back in the day, SolidSmack was this close *makes pinchy fingers* to becoming a music site named ShellacSmack, covering news of the people creating interesting melodies with the resin secreted by the female lac bug. Fortunately for you, there are very few, if any, people doing that. There are, on the other hand, people creating…