Desmophone
The desmophone is a string instrument and thus belongs to the group of cordophones. The resonating body is made of metal. In terms of sound, the notes of the desmophone are characterised by their room-filling size. They are brilliant and have a cathedral resonance even in smaller rooms.
Since the body is made of metal, it can also be played directly and used in an idiophonic way, so to speak.
The desmophone is a stringed instrument with two strings. The strings run horizontally. The two fundamental notes of the strings are G2 and D3.
You can stroke the bow horizontally with one hand and pick the notes with the other.
The sounds resonate for about 7 to 9 seconds after strong plucking or bowing. Because of the metal corpus, the notes have a lot of power in all registers and sound very intense. Harmonics in particular are also carried by the metal and resonate brightly and radiantly.
Spiccati, whether played with a bow, a jazz whisk or a metal stick (3 millimetres thick), sound pithy, sharp and resonate for 5 to 6 seconds.