The Boghorn

This is made from a brand new Armitage Shanks toilet bowl kindly supplied by Rob and Pete of F. Cowley & Sons (long standing plumbers of Sturminster Newton Dorset). This was the first instrument I invented as part of the 3 year Confluence project.

It is classified as a brass instrument as the sound is generated with a trumpet and trombone mouthpiece.

It is also a twin instrument as two people can play it at once, having a treble pipe and a bass pipe. The bass pipe has a wider bore and goes through the U-bend, the treble pipe is longer and narrower and goes through the cold water inlet into the bowl.

The range with both pipes is over three and a half octaves. The sound resembles across between a euphonium and a french horn. It has six holed chanters that give the notes between the natural harmonics, plus a neat foot operated lid lifting device that acts as a mute.