No, I didn't invent the Stylophone.
- Rolf Harris

The Stylophone became an overnight success when it was launched in the UK in the late 1960s. Rarely heard in musical circles, it was a massive hit with children and endless torture for parents.

The Company

Brian Jarvis, Bert Coleman and his brother Ted were British workmates who owned a company called Dübreq, and worked on dubbing and recording soundtracks for the film and broadcast industry. The name 'Dübreq' was a combination of the first syllables of 'dubbing' and 'recording'. It might be assumed that the addition of an umlaut and the replacement of 'c' with 'q' was done to imbue the letter combination with a degree of style and panache.

The Invention

The invention of the Stylophone came about almost by accident. Brian was repairing a toy piano for his niece because some of the hammers on the keys had broken off. What started as a simple repair turned into a mini-project. He replaced the keys with electrical contacts and added some electronic components along with a loudspeaker, turning it into a simple electronic organ.

Realising that what he had produced was a monophonic device, playing only one note at a time, he hit upon the idea that he could make the keys part of the circuit board. If he added a cabinet to put it all in and a stylus to complete the circuit, he found he'd created an instrument. He looked up at Bert, who was sitting nearby, to receive the encouragement he needed.

Don't just sit there, let's make the bloody thing!
- Bert Coleman.

Rolf Harris

Australian Rolf Harris was approached by Bert (a marketing man) to assist in the promotion and advertising of the product. Bert was aware that Rolf was an extremely popular television entertainer, especially with children. After several unsuccessful attempts to contact Rolf by telephone, he eventually gained access to the star in his rehearsal studio and gave him the invention to try. Rolf was impressed with the device and played with it for some considerable time. This ultimately led to the product making its debut on 'The Rolf Harris Show' a popular Saturday night BBC entertainment programme. Brian and Ted had to hand-build another six units in just a few days so that Rolf's support act, The Young Generation, could demonstrate deftness of hand and play along with him. Rolf's tireless energy and enthusiasm on the show brought about instant success for the Stylophone, and rumour spread among the population that he had invented the gadget himself. Rolf became quite a virtuoso on the device and it featured frequently in his entertainment, alongside his didgeridoo and wobble board.

The Mass-produced Product

Over three million Stylophones were made and sold. It was advertised and marketed as a 'pocket electronic organ'. In theory, anybody could play it, even if they had no musical ability. The keyboard was made up of metal cells individually isolated from each other; these were touched by a stylus resembling a ballpoint pen. The stylus closed the circuit producing the individual notes. Each cell was connected to a single voltage controlled oscillator via a different resistor value, producing notes at different tone and pitch. It sounded awful.

There were only two control settings, selected by a clunky slider switch - flat or vibrato. The product lacked a volume control, so the only way to attenuate the ghastly sound was to cover the speaker with one hand or apply liberal amounts of tape¹ over the outlet.

In all, three versions of the Stylophone were produced. The Super Stylophone had a bigger keyboard and scale and was capable of producing lots of different sounds². The '350S' was the luxury model that featured twin styli and an authentic wood-grain housing³.

Don't You Just Love Kids?

The packaged product came with a 7" flexidisc⁴ that demonstrated to users the full potential of vibrato and flat. Kids soon became bored with learning scales and ingenious methods were quickly devised to increase the number of available 'modes'. A popular choice was rapidly switching the unit off and on while playing the notes. 'Wah-wah' effects could be created by cupping a hand over the speaker, then rapidly raising and lowering it. Another variation was placing the stylus on the tongue and then using the tongue-tip to 'dab' the keyboard, producing notes that sounded rather like Donald Duck breaking wind. Attempting it with the twin-styli model caused mild electric shocks similar to those experienced when you attach your tongue to a PP3 battery.

Notable Hits

The unique Stylophone sound can be heard on a few commercial recordings. The most famous is David Bowie's 'Space Oddity', for all of one note and a rather nice glissando⁵. The Stylophone was extensively used by German band 'Kraftwerk' for the album 'Computer World'⁶.

And So it Came to Pass...

The Stylophone faded into obscurity almost as quickly as it had been eagerly seized by the masses. It was a gimmick, a toy and a fad. Ultimately it would have no longevity, except perhaps as landfill fodder.