They say, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever".

I certainly find that's true of musical instruments, so, given that we seem to be something of a musical bunch, I thought I'd start a thread so that we can celebrate a love affair with our art...

This is the guitar which I tend to use when recording:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3618/4610721683_3e99f6bc5c.jpg

A detail shot:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1118/4610723307_fee7f26bbe.jpg

Apologies for the crap photography!

Is this for what we like to hear in music, or our personal possessions??

Difficult for me to answer the former, so I'll answer the latter:

I have this bamboo flute I got about tend years ago in Brazil that I just love to take out into the forest, mountains, or just near holy places like shrines or temples and just play whatever comes into my heart......

It can work either way - but it would be really nice if those who play took the opportunity to post a pic of their favourite instrument.

This conjures up wonderful images. Just... wow.

I used to have an El Maya six string through neck stratocaster style electric guitar. Single pickup, very sweet sounding. Pity I was really crap at playing it. Looked somewhat like this. I sold it though, being a poor student and I regret doing so.

-LS

I love natural wood finishes on a guitar. That said, having just looked around, about the most natural finish I have is an Epiphone 6-string Gibson Sheraton-style semi, which is a subtle sunburst. The others are, by and large, painted.

And the through neck... Oh, yes - beautiful.

My Top 3 :

1. Bagpipes

2. Native American Flute

3. Piano

Edited to add :

My Honary Mention :

The Glass Armonica

It's bass guitar all the way for me.

Ever since I first heard Hooky in Joy Division I've been in love.
I only have one and it doesn't actually work anymore, but it's a beautiful looking instrument. I'll get it fixed eventually.

1) Woodwinds in general cause I use to play the flute
2) Zithers, specifically those from Asia
3) Pipe Organ
4) Cello
5) Harp

Carpi - The Pipe Organ is a beautiful instrument!

I also love the sound of the sitar. Ravi Shankar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzN2gUGYUGc

-LS

For myself my faves would have to be the clarinet and the ocarina (the round ones)... because I have played in the past (clarinet) or do play now (ocarina).

The synthesizer. It can make nearly any sound imaginable and oftentimes uses the very simple keyboard interface. All the notes are all lined up and ready to be played and it can play a wider variety of chords more easily than a stinged instrument and doesn't require stong breath like woodwind or brass instruments.

There are some absolute beauties here. I love the glass armonica; it has a really beautiful sound!

I have to say, I blow hot and cold on synths. I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth; I have to admit that without mine, recording would be an absolute non-starter - I like a full sound, and the range of sounds a synth gives you opens up a whole world of possibilities. However, the irony is, that it's also for those very reasons that I look at them slightly askance... Nobody plays a cello, say, like a cellist with a real instrument; had I the money, or the ability, I'd use a real cello.

I also love me a good deep dark rumbling synth bass!!!

Lustmord is the MASTER of dark bass!!!

It's odd. I don't really like synth basses, unless they're really virtually at the edge of the frequency range. If I use them, I tend to use emulations of real-world bass instruments (mainly because I can't always be arsed to battle with the wild frequency range of a bass guitar, which makes the recorded signal, I find, uneven and unpredictable - thank goodness, to some small extent, for compression!).