Invented Instruments

Elliot Sharp is a legendary NYC based experimental multi-instrumentalist and avant-garde artist who pushes the envelope of exploratory sound.

For decades he’s been creating a variety of electro-acoustic, string, and percussive instruments from found parts and recycled objects. Splice has finally teamed up with Elliot to record all of these unusual, eerie, haunting, and supernatural sounds that emanate from these instruments in one place.
Splice Explores: Invented Instruments is a deep dive into the wild creative mind of Elliot and his strange instrument offspring; each with its own origin story. Instruments such as the “Triplebass Pantar” and “Hammerpan” were the result of Elliot walking through Chinatown and coming upon large metal lids from giant containers of MSG. The “Violinoid” was a build in 1977 using a violin neck and fingerboard mounted on a wooden frame with multiple bridges and guitar pickups. The “Arches H-Line” and “Violameriyah” were both inspired by a fellow improvising guitarist and luthier of extraordinary inventiveness and skill. Finally, the “6-string Violameriyah” derives its name from three sources: the viola, the dulcimer, and the sumsumiyah, a Bedouin 6-string zither that uses metal cans or wooden boxes for a resonating chamber.
These instruments together create a bizarre yet functional collection of sounds that can be used as unique percussion, ominous drones, fx for video games, or foley for film and TV. These samples cannot be found anywhere else in the world and are completely unique to Splice. Welcome to a one-of-one treasure trove that is waiting to be explored.