Waterphone Rental
The Waterphone produces ethereal and spooky sounds often found on movie soundtracks. Used quite often by composer Tan Dun, including his Water Concerto for Percussion. We carry waterphones by Lark in the...
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The catalog
Carmen's castanets, Scheherazade's tambourine, the triangle part everyone suddenly cares about — accessory percussion is small gear with big exposure. We cover the entire shelf: triangles, tambourines, castanets, woodblocks, temple blocks, whips, sirens, and the rest, all concert-grade. Add to your quote, or call — if you don't see it, we have it.
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The Waterphone produces ethereal and spooky sounds often found on movie soundtracks. Used quite often by composer Tan Dun, including his Water Concerto for Percussion. We carry waterphones by Lark in the...
Bell trees by LP, Meinl, and Toca — the upward shimmer-glissando that ends a thousand cues.
Slapsticks from Toca, Ludwig, Roger Klein of the Chicago Symphony — plus a few we built ourselves. The crack that opens Concerto for Orchestra and closes vaudeville bits.
Brake drums in a range of sizes — the clanging found-metal voice of the American experimental book, from Cage to film-score industry.
Castanets by Black Swamp, Epstein, and Toca — handle castanets and machine castanets both. Carmen doesn't play itself.
A set of five Spanish cencerros — unpitched, clattering, and full of character for the Latin book and beyond.
A conch shell that truly speaks — the call in John Cage's Third Construction and Revueltas' La Noche de los Mayas.
Original developed by Pete Engelhart, we have a variety of crashers and other short, dry, metallic sounds effects including the Sabian Chopper in several sizes.
The fight bell — one authoritative "ding" per round. Boxing scenes, quiz shows, and the odd Ives moment.
A set of five bells voiced for Lou Harrison's repertoire — the gamelan-tinged colors his scores ask for and general-purpose bell magic besides.
A jug — add a contact mic and it becomes a surprisingly rich bass resonator, cousin to the udu. Americana dates and experimental sessions both leave happy.
Black Swamp log drums — soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, two pitches per drum. The warm, hollow woodsong of the contemporary percussion book.
Inventory includes a variety of plastic and rawhide maracas by LP, Meinl, Toca and Tycoon, as well as traditional Joropo and Llanera maracas.
Rainsticks by LP and Toca plus traditional bamboo and cactus sticks — long, slow washes of rain in whatever length the cue needs.
A custom-built reco-reco — the metal-spring scraper that drives Brazilian samba and batucada. Loud, bright, and authentic.
A real ship's bell — the genuine article for eight-bells cues, maritime scores, and theater effects. It rings like it means it.
Traditional Ethiopian sistrums — the ancient rattle-jangle that turns up in early-music programs, film scores, and sacred works.
Large Hand Crank WWII Siren for Varese Ameriques, Ionization, and other repertoire.
The small hand-crank siren — palm-sized, finger-muffled, and precise. The controllable wail for chamber works and effects cues.
Tambourines by Black Swamp, Grover, LP, and Meinl — double-row, single-row, headed, headless, and drum-set models. Carmen to session work, matched to the part.
Grover temple blocks in a set of five — add the three bass blocks to build the full set of eight. The dry, hollow gallop from Turandot to cartoon cues.
Thunder tubes by Remo and Toca — a storm in a hand-held drum. The low-budget thunder sheet with a personality of its own.
Triangles from Abel, Black Swamp, and Grover in a range of sizes and alloys — because the "simple" triangle part is never simple, and the right beater matters. Ask; we'll match the...
Traditional wooden water buffalo bells from Thailand in six sizes — the hollow, clonking pastoral color scores reach for when almglocken are too polite.
Woodblocks that actually project — Black Swamp, Grover, LP, Toca, and Vaughncraft, from high and dry to low and round. Rent one pitch or a graduated row.
Piccolo woodblocks by Equilibrium — the high, glassy click that stands in beautifully for Japanese mokusho. A full range from high to low.
Don't see it?
California Percussion
Rental assistant
Tell me what you need and when, and I'll pull it together — instruments, backline, or a whole stage. For anything happening today, call 415-626-4606.
Answers are guidance, not a quote. Every item is quoted and confirmed by a person.
