Create Digital Music has a great story about Ben Dove and his String Thing project, which involves using vibrating steel bars, laser pointers and webcams to create a kind of digital cello. The legendary David Vorhaus tried to do a similar thing (based on a Double Bass) with his Kaleidophon, although he used ribbon controllers, made for him by the French Space Agency. His story is very entertainingly told in this Sound on Sound article. Obviously ribbon controllers don't glow in the dark, so Ben wins!
Posted by Tom Whitwell. 
