Seed Magazine (link via Jim) reports:
In 580 BC the Greek philosopher Pythagoras discovered that harmonies could be expressed mathematically. His insight, which is based on the observation that doubling or halving the size of an instrument’s string produces a new octave, is the cornerstone of the musical scale.Twenty-five hundred years later, two Canadian mathematicians from the University of Moncton in New Brunswick have created an entirely new kind of string instrument that exploits a kind of mathematics owing more to Pythagoras’s theorem for triangles than to anything he ever thought about music.
The Tritare is a Y-shaped guitar-like instrument, custom made by Claude Gauthier and Samuel Gaudet. The strings twist through three necks (Spinal Tap, eat your heart out), all of which project from the body of the instrument at different angles. When strummed, the result is a “network” of vibrations that yields a sound somewhere between that of a regular guitar and a gong.
Whoa. It’s like … one of those guitars that are like … double guitars. But triple.
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That’s pretty badass.
Looks amazing, but sounds pretty crap – although I base that only on the first sample on their site.
Thus begins the countdown to the first YouTube video of some kid playing Pachelbel’s Canon on one of these.
Thus begins the countdown to the first YouTube video of some kid playing Pachelbel’s Canon on one of these.
Flippin’ sweet, is what I think.
If only Donald Duck had one of these in Mathmagic Land.