How the hot fountain pen makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the hot fountain pen belongs to the single-reed instruments: a single reed beats against a mouthpiece – clarinets and saxophones.
More broadly it is one of the aerophones (wind instruments), where sound comes from vibrating air.
Its timbre – the colour that lets you tell it apart from other instruments playing the same note – comes from the mix of overtones its body and resonator emphasise.
From Wikipedia
The hot fountain pen, or red-hot fountain pen, is a small keyless single-reed woodwind instrument similar to a xaphoon, popularised in the 1920s and 30s by the jazz saxophonist Adrian Rollini. It was first introduced by the saxophonist Jimmy Dorsey in his jazz band The California Ramblers in the mid-1920s, where Rollini, a fellow band member, encountered and adopted it. Rollini, who introduced several other instruments to jazz including the bass saxophone, couesnophone ("goofus"), and vibraphone, named it from his friendship with Neil Waterman, a musician from the wealthy New York family that owned the Waterman Pen Company.
The instrument Rollini performed on was pitched in E♭ and about 27 centimetres (10½ inches) in length. He made at least two models for sale, in original E♭ and a slightly larger model in C. These were made in ebonite by the London instrument manufacturer Keith, Prowse & Co. and first advertised c. 1928 in Melody Maker, a British weekly music magazine.
Other single-reed instruments
Frequently asked questions
What does a hot fountain pen sound like?
As one of the single-reed instruments, its sound comes from the way a single reed beats against a mouthpiece.
What type of instrument is the hot fountain pen?
It is classified as single-reed instruments (Hornbostel–Sachs 422.211.2).