When James Talambas plays the long string instrument, he often imagines flying. The instrument is 60 feet long and features ...

William Close is getting ready to string a skyscraper. As the inventor of the Earth Harp, which holds the Guinness World Record for being the longest stringed instrument, it’s a task he knows well.

At the heart of many of the world’s musical instruments is the same, simple component—a string stretched tight between two points. Plucked, bowed, or struck, each of an instrument’s strings creates ...