glass harmonica

[tilman]

check out this video. alan alda interviews Gerhard Finkenbeiner. very cool video on the history and making of the glass harmonica.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_kPOI5wPZE

[colonel4bin]

Crazy story, Gehard Finkenbeiner was a highly respected scientific glassblower who was an innovator in our field, one of the best glassblowers I ever met! His family/partners still run his shop in Waltham, MA if anyone is near Boston!!

A while back he left unexpectedly for a flight on his private plane, he was the pilot, and the plane disappeared! He or any trace of his plane were never found? They searched all over new england for the wreck and found nothing, and Gerhard was never heard from again! They had a Private Investigator look into it and even offered a reward but nothing turned up! Crazy story, I know there is more info on the web about it the guy just vanished!!

[vetropod]

There was a lady who played one of these in Harvard Square on a somewhat regular basis. Really interesting sounds...

[colonel4bin]

I remember her Wes, it is really a creepy sounding instrument, she used to play downtown somewhere too, there is also I man who plays one in Philly, since Ben Franklin invented it, I forget where I saw him though, maybe the Museum?

[Greymatter Glass]

isn't it called an Armonica? no "H" ?

[Mecha]

I think the original name was armonica. It is referred to as both now. I actually worked at GFI for four years right after Gerhart disappeared. The shop is now run by Tom Hession, the old vice president. I believe he finished up buying out the family as of last year.

Making the cups on the lathe is the easy part. Tuning and assembling them is the real challenge. They tried to train me to do that for a few days, but I have no musical background and found the work extremely tedious. It takes a month or so just to tune and assemble a mid sized instrument. There are so many variables. Assembling one is a true excircise in patience. My friend Sean Conroy was still building them for GFI last I heard from him a year ago. The people that play the instrument are some strange folk indeed. The sound is downright eerie.

[vetropod]

Either of you scientific guys have any idea what a glass armonica goes for? A month's worth of labor has got to make that a pretty penny! :puzzled: THAT said, still prob doesn't touch the price of a classical string instrument :depressed

[menty666]

Isn't there one of these at the CMOG too? I think it was off last time I was there.

[Mecha]

The cheapest one was around $6000. The most expensive was a little over $45k. Not cheap by any stretch of the imagination! The tuning truly is an art form in itself.

[colonel4bin]

Yeah, they have one at Corning, and someone will play it every now and then. Yeah, I couldn't imagine making one of them, it looks really hot! I always liked the quartz bells he made.

[nickglassdood]

i think they got one in the musical instument room in the muesum of fine arts in
boston

[nickglassdood]

http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?coll_keywords=glass+armonica

[VinE]

I saw one @ the country faire in oregon back in like '99.

[Racer X]

The armonica is a cursed instrument. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned it in this thread yet. I forget why it is thought to be cursed, but bad things happen to people who play them apparently.

[menty666]

They mentioned that in the Alan Alda video. Something about a coincidence where a kid died while one was being played and got blamed for conjuring up ghosts.

[Mecha]

I think the story of the child's death is a hoax. It was banned simply because it sounds eerie and is supposed to put people into evil trances. Think of the time period. It was not exactly the most forward thinking period in human history.

[Batou]

that thing was Uber cool! awesome sound that it makes! even better than a tharamin. sure whish i could see it in person.