From Wall Street Journal

Welcome to StoneInstruments.com - we specialize in custom-made ceramic musical instruments: stoneware ceramic stringed instruments (guitars, ukuleles, mandolins), ceramic drums with fish-skin, stingray-skin, goat-skin, calf-skin, and elk-skin heads, hand-built 17 and 28-key ceramic kalimbas (thumb pianos, a type of mbira), and ceramic udus, Nigerian, all-ceramic drums.

Upon request, at no extra cost, all instruments can be installed with a piezo electric microphone and a 1/4" input jack for amplification.

The pieces on this site are available in any color, and a range of sizes. If you order an existing piece in a different color or patterning, there is no extra charge. The pieces that have sold already can still be requested and will be made with similar dimensions and glazing, though they will not be identical to the originals.

The glazes I've been using, which all turn to glass during the last firing (which goes up to 2200 degrees), have extremely intricate textures. If you get up close, you can see that the type of geometry involved is created naturally through chemical reactions in the glaze/glass.

When it comes to custom pieces, e-mail us and describe what you're looking for - drums with multiple heads or pitches, ceramic stringed instruments of any type or size, horns of any length and color - the prices of the instruments on the site should be a rough guide to what your instrument will cost. There is no extra charge for building an instrument from scratch. We can generally turn the work around in 3-4 weeks.

Feel free to contact us with any questions, requests, or comments.




Featured Videos:

3-Headed Tube Drum and the Triple Doumbek:



Ceramic Acoustic/Electric Guitar (left) and the Ceramic Banjo (right):



Wheel Thrown Udu (all-ceramic hand drum, left) and the 28-Key Ceramic Bass Kalimba (right):



Making the Instruments:



For more videos, see the Ceramic Drums, Ceramic Guitars, Ceramic Udus, and Ceramic Kalimbas