# World's oldest musical instrument.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-musical-instrument/226837>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 30, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-musical-instrument/226837 "2004-01-30T21:31:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![a\_gherkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@a\_gherkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a_gherkin)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-musical-instrument/226837/1 "2004-01-30T21:31:18Z")

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i saw this article [http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=529&ncid=529&e=11&u=/ap/20040130/ap\_en\_ot/people\_kremer](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=529&ncid=529&e=11&u=/ap/20040130/ap_en_ot/people_kremer)  
and was amazed that a violin could be so old. i have heard they can be much older!!! i play guitar myself and i would just fid it interesting to know what the oldest known musical instruments are.

Cheers  
Gherk

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-musical-instrument/226837/2 "2004-01-30T21:55:33Z")

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1730? that’s barely enough time for the laquer to dry. [Here](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/454594.stm) are some **old** instruments:

> [@](#):
>
> The 9,000-year-old flutes are made from hollowed bird bones, and have between 5 and 8 holes. Remarkably, one of the flutes is still playable.
> 
> It may be one of the oldest musical instruments ever played, although scientists do know of a **45,000-year-old, so-called Neanderthal flute** made of a hollow bear bone that was dug up in Slovenia in 1995.

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**Author:** ![Thylacinewas\_taken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@Thylacinewas\_taken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacinewas_taken)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-musical-instrument/226837/3 "2004-01-30T22:08:35Z")

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OOH! I know this one!

The oldest instrument is the voice. After that came percussion instruments.

(I got to learn this stuff on a tour with grade 3’s for a CD ROM I’m making!)

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**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-musical-instrument/226837/4 "2004-01-30T22:35:15Z")

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A few instrument facts…

The oldest surviving violins date from the mid-1500s, including some made by Amati, one of the great makers along with Stradivari and Guaneri (the latter involved in the article in the OP.)

The oldest surviving (functioning) organ is in Sion cathedral, in Switzerland. It dates from 1390.

Three Cristofori pianos, all from the 1720s, survive - in New York, Leipzig and Rome.

So yeah, Kremer’s fiddle is a spring chicken in comparison 😃

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**Author:** ![a\_gherkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@a\_gherkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a_gherkin)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-musical-instrument/226837/5 "2004-01-31T00:45:40Z")

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hehe. thanks for the reply guys. im used to a 1957 les paul guitar being considered old so the idea of a 500 year old violin is rather perculiar to me!! 😃  
thanks again