Chris writes: "I'm not sure if you've seen these already, but glass harmonicas have been around for quite some time. They were invented by Benjamin Franklin of all people. This company will make one for you in almost any tuning." Unfortunately, they're not cheap. G Finkenbeiner Inc charge $6,150 for two octaves, $19,345 for 42 notes. Glass Harmonicas were notorious at the end of the 18th century, when they were blamed for melancholia, convulsions in farm animals and the mysterious death of a small child. For the full story, check out this feature on Beware of the Blog which includes this [mp3] recording of an elderly bearded man playing 'Stairway to Heaven' on wine glasses in a New Orleans street.
7/18/2005
The Glass Harmonica: Yours for just $19,345
Chris writes: "I'm not sure if you've seen these already, but glass harmonicas have been around for quite some time. They were invented by Benjamin Franklin of all people. This company will make one for you in almost any tuning." Unfortunately, they're not cheap. G Finkenbeiner Inc charge $6,150 for two octaves, $19,345 for 42 notes. Glass Harmonicas were notorious at the end of the 18th century, when they were blamed for melancholia, convulsions in farm animals and the mysterious death of a small child. For the full story, check out this feature on Beware of the Blog which includes this [mp3] recording of an elderly bearded man playing 'Stairway to Heaven' on wine glasses in a New Orleans street.
That's a very similar price to the Buchla 200e. Decisions decisions.
ReplyDeleteI can personally attest that running your finger around the rim of a wine glass can result in getting banned from pubs. And if the sound of a glass harmonica can result in death, the ill effects of one playing 'Stairway to Heaven' might be dire! Looking at the arrangement of those bowls on the drive shaft, there's clearly an ancestral relationship between this and the Hammond organ. Wonder if there was ever a keyboard operated glass harmonica?
ReplyDeleteYep... these things is rad. Anyone have a sample set for it? I've been looking for a bit now but no luck...
ReplyDeleteI have had one of these guys for 10 years, and love it (also, it didn't cost quite as much back then).
ReplyDeleteThis instrument was the love and joy of Gerhard Finkenbeiner, whose company (that makes scientific glassware) has made these lovely pieces more out of love than for profit. Gerhard died in a small plane accident a few years back, leaving the future of his GF Glass Harmonica in question. I think that it is admirable for his family, who now run his company, to continue to offer such an instrument, no matter the cost. After all, a Bosendorfer grand piano cost $100k because it is hand made - to make a glass harmonica, each bowl is created by hand and the tuning of the bowls is nothing less than tedium.
I think that all of the dark rumors around the glass harmonica stemmed from the lead content in the crystal being used at the time - the GF Glass Harmonica is made entirely of pure quartz crystal, so no lead is in the glass.
I once stopped on a street to watch someone playing one of these. The one they were playing was turned by a pedal. I think they played Take Me Out to the Ball Game...hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteI know Franklin invented >>a<< glass harmonica but the idea pre-dates him. Mozart wrote music for it, for instance. There are standing glass rods, rotating glass edges (as in the picture) and the ever faithful series of plain glasses.
ReplyDeleteDoes the price include them coming out to set it up and tune it?
Mozart wrote music for the GH that Ben Franklin invented - they lived in the same era!
ReplyDeleteI'm a professional glass armonica player (see www.glassarmonica.com)...
ReplyDelete>And if the sound of a glass harmonica can result in death, the ill effects of one playing 'Stairway to Heaven' might be dire!
I play 'Stairway to Heaven' all the time. It's heavenly!
>Wonder if there was ever a keyboard operated glass harmonica?
Yes -- particularly in 19th century Germany. It just doesn't work as well as fingers on the glass, for many of the same reasons that ultimately a real violin player is better than a hurdy-gurdy (a fretted/keyboard violin sort of).
>I think that all of the dark rumors around the glass harmonica stemmed from the lead content in the crystal being used at the time
The 'lead poisoning' legend about players getting lead poisoning from playing the glass armonica is just that -- an urban legend.
>I know Franklin invented >>a<< glass harmonica but the idea pre-dates him.
Franklin saw William Deleval playing a set of water tuned wine glasses in the spring of 1761 and decided to come up with a more convenient arrangement for the glasses. He named it the 'armonica' after the Italian word for harmony. (Since corrupted to 'glass Harmonica'). This IS the instrument for which Mozart composed his two works.
The idea of rubbing your wet finger around the rim of a wine glass goes back to Rennaissance days at least. Glass blowing itself was invented around 0 AD, so this idea can't be any earlier than that!
BTW, the earliest attempt that I've found to understand the phenomenon is by Galileo! -- in his 'Two New Sciences', the book he wrote on mechanics which he wrote while under house arrest towards the end of his life.
>There are standing glass rods, rotating glass edges (as in the picture) ...
Those are actually what amount to nested wine glasses. The physics is the same as a 'bell'.
>Does the price include them coming out to set it up and tune it?
They are tuned -- by grinding -- when you make them, and don't need tuning again.
best,
william zeitler
there's a glass harmonica soundset in Garritan Personal Orchestra, and its really quite lovely.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Zeitler Kicks ass. You guys better be happy that he posted on here. Check out some of his videos on youtube.com
ReplyDeleteHas anybody been able to access specs or lists of size/thickness ratios for the glasses? I don't have 6,000 bucks on hand, and I'm thinking of trying to make my own with some bowls and a lathe.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that galileo text?
Anyone ever tried to build one?
Zeitler kicks ass!
ReplyDelete