Musicians! Most obscure instrument you have played/owned?

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And by obscure, I mean not your norm, ones that to you are quite unusual.

For myself, I am in the process of purchasing a tin whistle in the key of D. I have also had the pleasure of playing a shamisen, what is essentially the eastern varient of the guitar. I also love playing the bass guitar percussively. I also love playing bowed guitar, to the point where I have no idea how to play a guitar any other way.

How about you guys?

jews harp, wash board, kazoo, sonovox, talk box

Does the cornet count? If not, I've always wanted a theremin. Besides that I currently have an accordion, as you already know, which isn't popular among the current generation, so you could call it obscure.

i am not really a musician but i did [for a while] own a less common instrument, an F-Bass Recorder, made by Angel. think of it as a flutophone or tonette but on steroids. the Great Bass in C [or the F-Subbass even more so] makes even the F-Bass look tiny in comparison. in high school, i played an Eb Contra-Alto Clarinet, like a Bass Clarinet on steroids. before that i played an Eb Alto Clarinet. in marching band/pep band i played a tenor tuba [sometimes called a bass euphonium, NOT to be confused with a baritone horn], a smaller relative of the bass tuba most people are familiar with.

I used to play a standard french horn, and badly. I remember playing outside on a sunny day heated it enough to warp the bell.

I have played a few obscure instruments. I had the pleasure of trying out a Sitar and a Sarod, both Indian instruments. I also tried an Oud, an Arab guitar-like instrument. I've played a mandolin, a banjo, a uke, and a banjolin (an odd but cool hybrid instrument). Probably the most obscure and esoteric instrument I tried was the Theremin

I merely dabble in music, but my husband and I both own ukuleles. I have a soprano, he has a tenor.

Hurdy Gurdy and autoharp. I don't consider uke to be unusual, though it's incredibly cute, and far more versatile than folks realise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snPQ1z5FoqQ

i remember when i was a little kid, i made a home-made kalimba out of an old cardboard box and some rubber bands. i plunked on it standing next to a concrete pool and hummed to myself.

I remember building a xylophone sort of thing out of these flat rocks as a teenager. Then we lost it in a move. Which is a shame, it was a really well made instrument.

I've got a melodica which is a wind instrument with piano keys that sounds kind of like a harmonica. It's pretty fun but the smaller keys throw me off. I think I have a kalimba around somewhere too.

odd musical instruments used to be quite a fixation for me long time ago. in my teens, mostly. i have and have had and have borrowed or in some context played on really strange beasts

i have some recorders. a very nice Moeck bass in f with all the keys. also a pretty nice sopranino recorder and a really nice alto too.

i have a double bass harmonica. sadly of inferior quality. i realise this list will be almost endless if it is to be anywhere near complete ...

i've played the blues harp a lot, once. i really liked that. i still like it but don't play anymore. i also played the chromatic harmonica a bit. not nearly as much tho.

i used to play in all sorts of orchestras. one was a medieval and renaissance one. there my instrument was the alto crumhorn. and my friend built hurdy gurdies as part of his work, i think. so i tried one of his hurdy gurdies a few times. wonderful thing, indeed!

i was once pretty seriously obsessed with the clavichord. and i still own one. but not too great at playing it.

i once borrowed a Chapman Stick from a music store over a weekend. lovely thing. but to my mind seeming almost superhumanly difficult to learn to play well ?? i also tried to build one of those once. but that never went anywhere.

i used to have a helicon in Es. only 3 valves. and i played the normal trombone somewhat seriously once. tried a bass trombone a while. also an instrument i really liked.

i have a pair of indian tablas and have had one lesson how to play them .. so pretty far from expert there

i used to play in an african drum orchestra too. so then tried all sorts of mainly Ghanese drums. truly wonderful stuff. i played that on a somewhat professional level.

i have and have had lots of synthesizers. not spectacular at all though. just common ones.

i used to have a 12-string acoustic guitar once but never learned to play it too well.

i used to also play in a Russian orchestra and there tried many strange things. string instruments and also wind. but have forgot there names now i think. i mean the wind one. like a trumpet made of wood.

i have a really nice bass ocarina with one key. meaning that any note can be raised one semitone, weirdly enough.

i tried once to learn the "Diatonic button accordion" (seems to be the English term). but never got too good at it. i really like many of the countless accordion traditions that exist around the world. something i'd love to get more into, i feel.

i have a darbouka (Goblet drum) drum made of aluminum. i love that one. but right now the skin is broken.

i have a piccolo that actually works and i can play it a little. not well at all.

also a mbira. it looks real but i have never learned to play it. (mine looks remarkably similar to the top one in the wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbira )

that's all i can think of right now.

Not sure how obscure these are:

Didgeridoo
Jew's Harp
Mouthbow

I broke the mouthbow, and I stopped playing the Jew's Harp because I was worried about what it might be doing to my teeth. I'll have to get a bamboo one sometime.

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I perform on a 19th century ship's Harmonium. It's like a treasure chest that fold out legs with attached pedals, about as portable as they get!
If you want to play along it's still tuned in 432 as per ye olden days.. it also came complete with the original spider inhabitants (perhaps!)!
That's probably the most unusual instrument I have.. [first post, yay!]

I'm glad to have the pleasure of your first post in one of my own threads.

Welcome!