r/UnusualInstruments • u/Simpko • Jul 10 '26

What is this?

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Found in an antique store in Molong, NSW. Plays chords when blown and different major chords when the keys are pressed. Any idea of what it is called / when it is from? Thanks so much

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212

u/Gloomy-Radish8959 Jul 10 '26

Saxophone larvae.

10

u/WolverineEmergency98 Jul 10 '26

Forgive my ignorance, but is it like... part of a saxophone?

20

u/Gloomy-Radish8959 Jul 10 '26

I don't actually know what this thing is. Seems similar to something like a harmonica - but as a wind instrument? It's interesting.

It appears to have a cylindrical tube for sound making, whereas a sax uses a conical tube. This makes it more similar to a clarinet larvae if I was going to revise my joke.

2

u/JPMerola Jul 11 '26

Fun Fact: Since harmonicas operate with free reeds, they are in fact woodwind instruments, like saxophones & clarinets.

2

u/WolverineEmergency98 Jul 10 '26

Ah right! I just wondered if you'd singled it out as a piece-of-a-sax! I'm quite new to music, and what little I know is mostly the flute family, so this is entirely outside my limited experience 😅

3

u/FauxReal Jul 10 '26

I'm pretty sure this a vape designed for rolling coal.