Stroh-ify Me!

            Here’s a great oddity from the golden days just before the advent of electrical amplification. In 1900, John Matthias Augustus Stroh was granted a patent on his “Strohviol,” a violin that used a horn to mechanically amplify its sound.

            Since then the instrument has died…except for a few strange, lovely applications of the technology. The instrument’s biggest proponents today are those weird steam punk people.