A Vietnamese artist who set up both Guinness World and Asian records thanks to his wacky home-made musical instruments has announced his latest innovation: a self-modified monochord which can be played on its entire body length. 

Mai Dinh Toi, 56, presented his modified “dan bau” (Vietnamese monochord) at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday.

As for the conventional “dan bau,” artists can play only on its upper half toward the moveable bamboo rod.

Meanwhile, Toi’s instrument can also emit musical sounds on its rear half.

The meeting also saw a performance by monochord artist Hoang Cam – Toi’s wife – on his modified instrument.

“I observe my wife play the monochord every day. Once, while I was mending a snapped string for her, a question popped up in my mind on why its rear part cannot be played on. I began working to fix the problem then,” Toi said at the meeting.

His modification includes moving the bridge toward the wooden rod to a new location which is 1.25 centimeters away from the former position.

He also elevates the strings by 0.75 centimeters compared to the conventional instrument.

The modified monochord’s rear part can thus produce five complete musical notes, and allow players more flexibility.

Veteran artist Huu Luan, an art performance organizer, said he will incorporate Toi’s innovation on the monochord into his weekly performances.

Mai Dinh Toi plays the flute made of plastic water pipes.

Toi was enlisted by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2006 as the man who plays the most home-made musical instruments in the world.

He was also recognized in 2012 by the New Delhi-based Asia Book of Records for his wide range of musical instruments made from average water pipes, which formed an orchestra on a stage also built from pipes.

He has been repeatedly honored by the Vietnam Record Association and won other local awards for his zany instruments.

Coming from a family of four generations of musicians in the northern Vietnamese province of Thanh Hoa, Toi began playing musical instruments as a child.

He graduated from the Traditional Music Faculty at the Hanoi Conservatory in 1983, and played the flute in the Central Tuong (Classical Opera) Theater.

Unlike his colleagues, Toi wished to play music his own way, breathing new life into traditional Vietnamese music.

He came up with the musically innovative ideas of playing the flute and drumming with his feet, and playing two flutes with his nose at the same time.

Toi is also widely known for building musical instruments from plastic water pipes, ceramic bowls, glass bottles, aluminum doors, lit neon lights, and motorbike frames.

In December 2012, the man organized a show on Vietnam’s largest PVC-pipe stage which featured some very large and unusual musical instruments at Dam Sen Cultural Park in Ho Chi Minh City.

The seven meter high, 30 square meter prefabricated stage was built entirely of PVC plastic water pipes of various sizes.

Toi also built a wide array of stringed instruments made of pipes, such as “dan tranh” (a 16-chord zither), “dan bau,” and a guitar, into the incredible stage.

The stage and wide variety of instruments made of pipes earned him the recognition by the Asia Book of Records.

The wizard can play 25 different musical instruments, many of which were created from common household items.

He has successfully performed many genres including traditional and modern Vietnamese music as well as foreign melodies on his unique instruments at home and in more than 30 countries over the past 25 years.

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