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The Atlas Obscura Podcast

Ben Franklin’s Musical Invention

The Atlas Obscura Podcast

SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura

Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.61.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dylan tries his hand at playing a “glass armonica,” a musical instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin. Its high-pitched, eerie sounds were rumored to cure all kinds of illnesses – or even, sometimes, cause them.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Upstairs is where we have our classical instruments room.

0:05.9

Oh, I see. I see. Okay, what's downstairs then? That's like your synths?

0:10.2

So downstairs are our 1950s room.

0:13.0

I see. Cool.

0:14.6

This is Joey Weiss.

0:16.4

Joey is, he's my friend. He's also my neighbor. He lives like five minutes up the road.

0:21.1

He's a really talented musician. He's a really talented musician.

0:22.9

He's a really talented producer of music.

0:25.9

And because of that, Joey has a studio next to his house,

0:30.5

this incredible little space with a collection of a ton of instruments in it.

0:36.7

All right.

0:37.1

So into the attic of the studio.

0:41.1

Cool.

0:43.3

We have harps and all kinds of...

0:47.3

Can you play any of these?

0:48.2

Yeah. That sounds nice.

1:05.7

That sets a mood.

1:07.2

That sets a mood.

1:09.4

And the reason I wanted to go visit Joey at the studio

1:12.3

is to see one of these instruments in particular.

1:16.8

This instrument seemingly made out of a series of glass salad bowls.

1:23.6

Describe what we're seeing here. What am I looking at?

...

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