The Stranierofono

The Stranierofono was definitely my most original invention, even though they said I couldn't patent a saxophone. Well, first thing, it's not a saxophone. It's more similar to a bass clarinet, but I made the tube out of crappy PVC electrical tubing and super glue.

I invented it originally to spice up my accordion act. It hooks on to my accordion by means of backpack straps. Instead of traditional woodwind keys, it works from a piano style keyboard that opens the holes by means of very resistant braided fishing line.

The real difference between the Stranierofono and a traditional woodwind is that to make any note you open only one hole at a time. Any other reed or flute instrument works by opening the holes from the bottom to the top, and leaving open all the holes under that note. It was the only way that I could get it to work from a keyboard. The thing is that this creates enormous problems for tuning the tube. You make one hole, then another, but the last one throws the first one out of tune and it gets worse with every hole you make. I've shown it to several luthiers who said it was an impossible instrument, I had just got lucky and I could never do it again. For years I've been trying to prove them wrong, and I'm still at it.