Leave it to ol' Ben Franklin to create this wonderfully odd instrument in 1761. Inspired by the sound of glass bowls (played by stroking the lid of a wine glass filled with water,) Franklin created this version, which reversed the concept. Thirty-seven bowls are arranged on a spindle and slowly spun. The player merely touches the glasses with wet fingertips. With Franklin's invention, more than two tones could be played at once, producing some hauntingly beautiful chords. In its heyday, more than 100 composers wrote for the instrument, including Mozart and Beethoven. No one is sure why it fell out of favor, but changing out one of the tones proved to be a real pain in the glass.