The vibraslap is a percussion instrument consisting of a piece of stiff wire (bent into a U-shape) connecting a wooden ball to a hollow box of wood with metal "teeth" inside.

This is the lower jawbone of a donkey or a zebra which has loose teeth that rattle when the instrument is struck.

[3] The instrument was carried by enslaved people to South America where it became known as the jawbone (quijada in Spanish).

About the inventing process, Cohen remembers, "I had never seen a jawbone before, but I had heard one on a Cal Tjader album.

"[6] The vibraslap was the first patent granted to the instrument manufacturing company Latin Percussion.