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Jim's Big Blog From hip hop to opera, I'm interested in all kinds of music. It's so cool. But sometimes, I get tired of always listening to the same instruments. So this week I've been reading about and listening to some of the strangest musical inventions in the world. I hope you enjoy it. The World's Strangest Musical Instruments The Great Stalactite Organ Inside most caves there are stalactites. They're the rocks that slowly grow down from the ceiling of caves. In one enormous cave in the USA, there's an instrument that plays these spectacular stalactites. It's huge. It works by hitting the stalactites with soft hammers. It was invented by Leland W. Sprinkle in 1956. Some people say that Leland had the idea when his son hit his head in the cave and it made a beautiful noise. I guess that his son wasn't happy about that. Not good if you're afraid of caves. Picasso Guitar This strange instrument was made when a jazz musician called Pat Metheny asked for a guitar with as many strings as possible. The Picasso guitar is very different from a normal guitar. It has 42 strings instead of 6 and it's got 4 necks instead of 1. The first Picasso guitar was built in 1984 and was very difficult to make. In fact, it took around 1,000 hours. That's about 2 years. Good for people who are bored of playing normal guitars. Singing Ringing Tree Some people say the singing ringing tree is a musical instrument, others say that it's a piece of art, and some people think that it's a tree. It was designed by Mike Tonkin and Anna Lou, and when the wind blows through the tree, the pipes make a noise that can sound like someone singing. The tree is on a hill in Lancashire in the north of England. Jenny and I are excited about visiting it soon. Good for people who are keen on listening to music when they go hiking. Not good for birds that want a place to make their homes there.