JohnSong Music Daxophone 2026 - Natural

Up for sale is a complete Daxophone rig, minus the bow and the amplifier.  The Daxophone was invented by avant-garde German musician, Hans Reichel, in 1987.  It is a friction idiophone, meaning that you have to rub it to excite it to emit sonic tones.  In this case, you rub the wood tongue extension vertically with a bow.  The sounds the Daxophone makes are animal like or like a voice.  The Daxophone is unlike any other musical instrument, including synthesizers.  It has an unmistakable vocal quality to it and can become very addictive when playing it because of the aleatoric nature of its design.  Just look up Daxophone in Wikipedia and you’ll get an idea of what this instrument is about.  

There are four elements you need to operate a Daxophone:

1. The base
2. The tongue
3. The Dax
4. The bow

Each component is hand made, except for the piezoelectric disc which amplifies the Daxophone.  That’s why a Daxophone system costs $1,500 for a basic rig.  Etsy is where Daxophone builders list their products.  I’m selling a complete Dax system, minus the bow.  However, I can order a bow for you for an extra cost of $125.  The best bow for vertical bowing a Daxophone is a 1/4 size German bass bow with black hair.  Each Daxophone I build is a one-of-a-kind instrument because I build them completely from scratch.  The best materials I’ve found are pine wine boxes for the base and numerous woods for the tongues, which are 3-5mm thick and shaped for ultimate tonal resonance.  The three tongues I’m including in this Daxophone are made of redwood, mahogany, and oak.  There are seven pieces which make up this Daxophone rig:

1. The base
2. 2-scissor clamps
3. Three tongues (redwood, mahogany, oak)
4. Dax (fretted on one side) 

Good luck with all your music endeavors!  JMJ