Instruments by Harry Partch

To play this music he invented and built many new instruments, with names such as the Chromelodeon, the Quadrangularis Reversum, and the Zymo-Xyl.

[2] Partch began in the 1920s using traditional instruments, and wrote a string quartet in just intonation (now lost).

[7] Those who have duplicated partial sets of Partch instruments include John Schneider, whose West Coast ensemble includes replicas of the Kithara, Surrogate Kithara, Cloud-Chamber Bowls, Adapted Guitars, Adapted Viola, Diamond Marimba, Bass Marimba, Chromelodeon, and two Harmonic Canons.

[citation needed] A complete set of replica instruments was commissioned by Ensemble Musikfabrik in 2012 and built by German percussionist Thomas Meixner.

[11] It also includes a changeable bridge which allows triple stops, i.e. full triads, to be sustained.

[2] The Adapted Viola was constructed in New Orleans with the assistance of an Edward Benton, a local violin maker.

What the bow is doing meanwhile, in its capacity of providing an infinitude of nuance, is supremely important.As Partch's first instrument, the Adapted Viola is used heavily in many of his early mature compositions.

In works such as Seventeen Lyrics by Li Po and Two Psalms the music is scored only for Adapted Viola and intoning voice.

The tongues cut into the bamboo are approximately 1/6 of the length of the tube in order to produce a harmonic at 6/5 of the fundamental.

The carboys were originally sourced from the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory, where they were used in the construction of cloud chambers.

[15] The Eucal Blossom is a bamboo marimba with 33 resonators in three rows of eleven, supported by a branch of eucalyptus.

[15] Twelve temple bells bolted to gourd resonators on a bar of eucalyptus, and two Douglas Aircraft bomber nosecones.

They are tuned differently depending on the piece, and are played with fingers or picks, or, in some cases, unique mallets.

[15] The central section's 36 African padauk blocks are an upside-down, mirrored version of the Diamond Marimba—hence Reversum.

Partch's initial plan, abandoned due to cost, was to use square bamboo (C. quadrangularis) for the resonators—hence the first part of the instrument's name.

[23] The Spoils of War is a collection of several instruments, including more Cloud Chamber Bowls, artillery shell casings, metal "whang-guns", a Pernambuco wood block, and a gourd.