Geophone (musical instrument) Geophone (musical instrument) The geophone is a percussion instrument, invented by the French composer Olivier Messiaen for use in his large composition for piano and orchestra entitled "Des canyons aux étoiles…" ("From the canyons to the stars…"). It consists of a drum filled with thousands of small lead pellets, and is played by swirling it around slowly so that the noise of the pellets resembles the sound of dry shifting earth. Messiaen commissioned a Parisian instrument maker to construct one to his design, and he carried this instrument worldwide to early performances of the piece (which was given its first
Regal Musical Instrument Company Regal Musical Instrument Company The Regal Musical Instrument Company was established in 1908 in Chicago. By the 1930s, they were one of the largest manufacturers of musical instruments in the world. Regal specialised in: Regal was heavily involved in the production of resonator fretted instruments from their first development until 1941, manufacturing components and bodies for both the National String Instrument Corporation and the Dobro Manufacturing Company and producing whole instruments which sold under many brand names including "Dobro". The bodies of their Laminated bellied guitars were particularly suited to resonator conversion. Production of resonator guitars ceased in 1941, and