Musical Instruments

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Instruments I play

Keyboards
Percussion
- Drums
- Shakers
- Wood
- Metal
- Sound effects
- Other percussion
Strings
Winds

[Note: these are not for sale]

It is becoming increasingly tricky to keep this ever-growing list up to date, but here goes... :-)

Keyboards

1983 Roland Jupiter 6 analogue polysynth with Europa upgrade, EV-5 expression pedal (to control the VCF) and DP-10 sustain pedal
1983 Roland JX-3P analogue polysynth with PG200 programmer (in original cases), Boss FV-50L volume pedal and DP-10 sustain pedal
1985 Roland TR-707 digital drum machine, used to trigger the JX's sequencer
1980 Boss DR-55 analogue drum machine, used to trigger sequencers or noise gate sidechains
1977 Korg Poly Ensemble PE-2000 analogue string ensemble keyboard with built-in phaser
1979 Godwin String Concert SC749 analogue string synth with BBD Ensemble
1974 EKO Stradivarius Model 3217 analogue string synth with BBD Ensemble and rare Crescendo volume pedal
1982 JVC KB-700 analogue string synth with BBD Ensemble (the first stereo home keyboard), complete with original stand, dustcover, footswitch and volume pedal
1988 Waldorf Microwave I Rev.B OS V2.0 rackmount wavetable synthesiser with analogue filters
1988 Ensoniq SQ80 CrossWave synthesizer with analogue filters
1988 Casio VZ-1 Interactive Phase Distortion digital polysynth
1985 Casio CZ-101 Phase Distortion digital polysynth (highly underrated)
1984 Yamaha CX5M music computer with 4-operator FM synthesis and 8-track multitimbral sequencer - this is what I originally began producing music with, in the Olde Days when Real Men spent days typing in musical notes in step time, saving data to cassette and hoping the data would load back in again... I even played my first concert with this machine in 1987! It is now long since retired, but will soon return to duty for sampling and recording old archived pieces.
1910 Splendid antique Broadwood upright grand piano maintained and tuned by SJW Piano Tuners, replacing my old Rogers Eungblut piano which died and went to heaven, now repurposed as a string reverb in my underground reverberation chamber!
1850s Holdernesse & Holdernesse pedal harmonium - this lovely instrument was first used on my debut album Tone Control while I was living in the loft of Michael's Folly
1960s Hohner Organetta 3 electric reed organ
1960s 34-key Casali piano accordion made in Verona, Italy
1980s Melodica (mouth piano)

Percussion

Drums

Huge dundunbelebeleba (massive bass drum) made by a friend
4 x Guinean dun duns: two kenkeni, one sangban, one dununba
2 x Kambala KDO160 tiny kenkeni
24 x djembe (11 adult-sized and 13 child-sized) used in teaching
- Professional Guinean soloist's djembe
- 5 x Guinean djembe
- 2 x Guinean medium djembe
- 2 x Gambian djembe
- Ghanaian djembe
- 3 x Senegalese djembe
- Senegalese child's djembe
- 3 x Gambian child's djembe
- 9 x Ghanaian child's djembe
Ghanaian gome drum
4 x Ghanaian Adowa drums set: Petia, Apentema and Atumpan pair
2 x Ghanaian kpanlogo
2 x Senegalese bougarabou tuned to E and A
Senegalese seourouba
Moroccan boran drum
African samba drum
Syrian daf
Indonesian frame drum
2 x Indian tabla (sold as I realised I'd never even come close to mastering their difficult technique)
3 x African lollipop drums
Pair of Caribbean bongos
Natal 11" conga on stand
LP 11" Compact Conga
2 x Remo Tubanos (10" and 14")
Remo snare drum
Premier drumkit (2 toms, floor tom, kick, snare - currently still yearning for a ride cymbal)

Shakers

9 x Remo fruit shakes (boxed)
3 x LP RhythMix Box Shakers
2 x Rhythm Tech Eggz shakers
2 x plastic castanets
2 x Meinl black plastic maracas
2 x Meinl caxixi (basket shakers)
2 x giant African caxixi
3 x medium African caxixi
4 x small African caxixi
2 x African double basket shakers
African shell shakers
3 x African gourd shekeres
6 x Gambian ratatak gourd rattles
45 x Gambian seed pod shakers (huge 40cm dried mangetout that I plucked from African trees!)
15 x stalk shakers
2 x Ghanaian coconut shakers
Indonesian shaker (labelled 'Kerincing pangi putih')
Ping-pong ball cluster merakas
Assorted jars of seeds, rice, lentils, etc.

Wood

Guinean balafon - two chromatic octaves in E
wooden bass bar chime in C3
tongue drum in A3 C4 D4 F4 G4 A4
African krin (aka slit drum / log drum)
1.5m rainstick
Meinl wooden Vibraslap
Pair of Aboriginal clapsticks
2 x pairs of claves
Large Senegalese guiro
2 x Percussion Plus wooden fish guiro
8 x wooden frogs of various sizes (croak!)

Metal

Suzuki Tone Chimes HB-25 chromatic set minus lowest G4 (I originally had an older HB-16 diatonic set of 16 from A4 to F6 with Bb4, F#5, Bb5 (same as current model HB-160))
13 note mini glockenspiel with removable diatonic keys from middle C4 to A5 with F#4, Bb4, F#5
25 x chime bars, 2 octave chromatic set from G3 to G5
22 x metal bowls, because... kitchen utensils = addictive, but the gateway drug to...
42(!) x Tibetan singing bowls with suction lifter, rubber rings and more beaters and wands than you'd believe!
2 x Himalayan nipple gongs (58cm in A2 and 36cm in Eb3)
Sabian 20" HH Dark China cymbal (sounds epic like a gong!)
Ufip 10" splash cymbal
11 x pairs of tingshaw (Tibetan finger cymbals)
Pair of curved finger-cymbals tuned in A and D
Pair of mini-cymbals
Rhythmtech pro tambourine
Sleigh Bells
LP Agogo Bell
2 x LP Jam Bells pitched in E and C
LP Flex-A-Tone
LP Salsa Cha-Cha cowbell
Triple cowbell
3 x Ghanaian atelogo - 50cm conical gongs with natural rubber/wood beater
4 x Ghanaian banana gongs (apitua/slit bells) - large, medium and small
3 x Ghanaian pod bells
2 x Ghanaian double bells
4 x Guinean bells
Assorted other vintage bells
2 x pairs of ankle bells
2 x strings of fairy bells
Vietnamese bell ring
Dan moi - Vietnamese jaw harp made from a bullet cartridge
2 x tuning forks (A4=440Hz and E4=329.6Hz)
Californian Energy Chimes
TreeWorks bar chimes - looks almost the same as that one; the tuning is very cosmic
3 x Dream chimes (large, small and tiny)
4 x Koshi chimes: Earth, Water, Fire, Air
Wind chimes
Mexican bola, sounds like the faeries have sprinkled yew with their magick!
5 x metal poles, 1m-2m long, marked with harmonic points
Toy steel drum

Sound effects

32(!) x Whirly tubes, because the best thing on Planet Earth is a playground full of 7-year olds whirling :-)
Remo thunder tube 4" x 10"
Remo spring drum 4" x 10"
Octagonal ocean drum
Assorted chains, drill bits, coins, metal foil
Breaking glass :-)
Conical foghorn
Wind wand by Soundhoppers
Buzzing bow (destroyed in action, performing atop Dunstable Downs in a wind storm! :-)
2 x Bull roarers
5 x Bird calls
2 x Hooting owls
Cuckoo clock

Other percussion

5 x flowerpots
3 x earthenware pots
African mbira (thumb piano)
African kalimba
2 x Tanzanian Zawose kalimba
Various beaters, sticks and mallets, soft and hard and even metal!
Cello bow for bowing cymbals, bowls

Strings

Arabic oud (was on loan, but now returned to its owner)
Chinese erhu
Small zither
Acoustic guitar (on permanent loan)

Winds

2 x Slovakian Koncovka overtone flutes, one in A (77cm = 30") and one in D (58cm = 23")
Guinean Fula flute (3-hole wooden)
Native American novice flute
North Indian bansri flutes
2 x African wooden flutes
Chromatic metal flute
Indonesian flute
Chinese hulusi
Bamboo flute
3 x ocarinas
'The Hohner Band' vintage harmonica in C Major
Lee Oskar Diatonic harmonica in D Major

You might also like to check out some links about Drumming and Instruments.