Bricks ’n’ Beats: Best LEGO Instruments
Inspired by the release of the new Olivia Rodrigo LEGO sets, we check out some of the best brick instruments we’ve come across over the years. Some of them even work!
A couple of days ago, LEGO announced a collection of sets inspired by Olivia Rodrigo. While those are undeniably cute—I’m sure they’ll be a hit with Olivia’s fans—, I think we’ve seen some more impressive instruments built out of bricks over the years. Time for a round-up!
Best LEGO Instruments
The Concert Grand Piano
The Danish toy giant has, of course, long realized that its colorful bricks are just as popular with adults as with children. In fact, the so-called ‘AFOLs’ (Adult Fans of LEGO) have become a major source of revenue for the company. And intricate musical instruments make for great display pieces—perfect for affluent AFOLs who like to show off their bricks in their living rooms rather than scatter them across the floor.
It all started with the impressive concert grand piano, which was designed by a fan and then became an official model. The working keyboard and pedal mechanisms are truly fascinating. Using a companion app, you can even make the piano ‘play’ a couple of pre-programmed pieces of music. However, there are no actual strings involved; the app simply plays pre-recorded music through the speaker, which is a bit of a bummer. Impressive nonetheless!
Guitars: Bricks with Strings
LEGO’s second official instrument model was created in response to the creations of several fans who rightly felt it was high time for a guitar. For example, brick artist morimorilego had already come quite close to the original with his Les Paul Standard.
Burls Art contributed this bass. This is the same guy to whom we owe, among other things, the guitars made from colored pencils, skateboards, and coffee beans. The bass consists of about 2,000 bricks. To ensure playability, however, he had to make some crucial parts like the neck and fretboard out of wood or epoxy resin.
This guitar by epoxy artist Nick Zammeti is also held together by resin.
The official Stratocaster model, which was licensed by Fender (at least LEGO won’t get sued) and even included the matching Princeton Reverb Amp, is unfortunately no longer available for purchase. Like many adult-focused sets, it was created with collectors in mind, and they tend to value rarity and exclusivity above everything else.
The Strat was a real eye-catcher. However, the designers had forgotten something essential: the pedalboard! Steve Marsh immediately came to the rescue. His mini brick pedalboard features a collection of classic stompboxes: a Big Muff, a couple of Boss pedals, a ProCo Rat, and a CryBaby.
Building a Microtonal LEGO Guitar
The ingenious microtonal guitar by Tolgahan Çoğulu and his son Atlas is proof that LEGO also lends itself to musically useful creations. The guitar lets you assemble and play various microtonal scales on the fretboard by using the studs as a grid. Awesome idea!
LEGO Synths and Keyboards
With so much creativity in the guitar world, the synth crowd had to come up with its own share of impressive creations. In fact, I reckon that there must be quite a few synth geeks who are also AFOLs. And perhaps keyboards and synths are even easier to build from bricks than stringed instruments.
In any case, the gallery of creations here is no less impressive. How about, for example, the life-sized Nord Stage model by The Brickman?
While they weren’t technically made from LEGO bricks (instead, the developer used a 3D printer to make compatible components), the VVOLT Eurorack cases absolutely deserve a place in this round-up. Sadly, they’re no longer available, but they were proof that studded bricks and Eurorack go together quite well!
LEGO Minimoog: The Missed Opportunity
All of that, however, pales in comparison to the sensational Minimoog model submitted to LEGO Ideas by Eliot Obrien in 2024. The attention to detail is absolutely astonishing—from the hinged case to the keys and wheels all the way to the knobs and switches, it looks just like the real thing. Like the original, the model features three oscillators, a mixer, and a filter. You can even remove the back panel to take a peek at the resistors and capacitors hidden underneath. Any music-loving AFOL will be blown away by this model. It’s all the more unfortunate that, despite the incredibly positive response, LEGO chose not to release the Minimoog as an official set—a huge missed opportunity, in my opinion!
Build Your Own LEGO Controller
As it turns out, LEGO bricks are also a fantastic tool for building and prototyping user interfaces and control surfaces. Even Ableton Push began as a LEGO prototype! And this Arduino synth combines bricks and a kit from Crazy Circuits:
And finally, what would an article about musical bricks be without a nod to the amazing Toa Mata Band? This group of computer-controlled Bionicle figures has long been a YouTube sensation with their mind-blowing performances on various drum pads, synths, and a whole arsenal of other sound-generating devices. The only thing the inventor gets to play himself is the funky bassline.
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