Os Barbapapas
The Electric Glass Harp and the Tacho Guitar come together with a set of acoustic and electronic drums.
The Electric Glass Harp and the Tacho Guitar. The Electric Glass Harp is the classic glass harp with piezo electric mics, one in every glass. They all them come together in a pre-amp, with volume and EQ controls. Finally the sound is processed by many effect pedals.

The first version of the glass harp was a one octave diatonic, just acoustic, it took 3 months to be built. Since than 3 years passed to get to this (not final) version. 2 octaves and a half in chromatic scale with all the electric parts. The electric parts itself had already 2 versions built. The glass part is in constant modifications and I have lost count of how many times I have changed something in it.

The first time I played the glasses I just put 4 of them together, the ones i had in my house. In a lazy day with nothing to do. I was so amazed with the sound that i rushed to the store to by more glasses, and just like that I never stopped doing it.

The Tacho Guitar uses an old copper pan as a resonant body. There are 3 strings to be played as a slide guitar and 10 resonant strings, that can be played also as a harp. It was inspired in the Rebab from north Africa and in the sarangi from India. I spent months drawing sketches of many instruments and models, until this came. Found the copper pan in a antique street market and put it together with some old tuning parts that i recived from a friend. The arm of the instrument is from a scythe, it's reforested wood, bought in a common shop and was very cheap. My father in law , who is an architect, helped me build the instrument from the sketch. In the process of making it I discovered that he had worked in a guitar factory in Brazil!
Os Barbapapas : Makers and composers
The maker Os Barbapapas
We are a band. Two of us build and play our own instruments. One is the electric Glass Harp, the other is a mix between slide guitar and sympathetic strings built in a pan, the Tacho Guitar. We are about to release our first album recorded with these instruments and others.
You can check it here: https://funinthechurch.bandcamp.com/album/doowoodoowoo
Connect with
How you can help me:
Follow us on our social media and come to talk with us!