DIY glockenspiel made from wood, metal

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DIY glockenspiel made from wood, metal
diy_xylophone.jpg

Over at Make: Español, Marisol found this nifty homebrew glockenspiel, built by Lovisa Ekelund and Bernardo Flores. Looks like fun!

Update: It’s a glockenspiel, not a xylophone (which is one instrument in the metallophone family). Thanks to voodoo and sonodrome for pointing this out.

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18 thoughts on “DIY glockenspiel made from wood, metal

  1. voodoo says:

    …a glockenspiel or a metallophone (as the video even states!)

    1. Matt Mets says:

      Thanks. I think I’ve got it now- a Glockenspiel is a specific type of metallophone, that is arranged in a similar manner to a xylophone. Whew! I think I’ll go back to my lithophone now :-)

      1. Matt Mets says:

        Maybe struck idiophone is the next most specific classification?

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiophone

  2. sonodrome says:

    It’s definitely a glockenspiel as it has metal keys, the word xylophone comes from the greek for ‘wooden voice’ and is used for an instrument with wooden keys. It’s splitting hairs I know! but loads of people get the xylophone mixed up with it’s metal cousin the glockenspiel.

    Jim.

    1. Matt Mets says:

      Thanks for pointing this out. Do you happen to know if there is a blanket term to describe an instrument with tuned bars made from any material (metal, wood, stone, etc)?

  3. Marisol says:

    Thank you, Matt, for posting this! This was made by my sister and her boyfriend to give as a present to a little girl. Bernardo made the instrument and Lovi decorated it. :D

    1. Matt Mets says:

      Oh, awesome! It was my pleasure :-)

  4. sonodrome says:

    Hey there Matt, nice to meet you!
    Both the glockenspiel and xylophone are classed as percussion instruments and get shoved in the same category as kettle drums (not too descriptive is it!) Most of musics categorization and nomenclature is completely bonkers – I think it’s designed that way to keep non musicians in the dark!

    1. Matt Mets says:

      Thanks! I suspect this is the case for many nomenclature systems.

      Maybe we could give them an equally obscure name :-D. How about rabdophone for ‘bar’ + ‘voice’?

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