String instruments
The guitar, the lute, the mandolin and the zither are some of the European string instruments found in the collections. The oldest dated lute is from 1612. The museum has over 50 Swedish lutes, most of which were made by Petter Mathias Kraft in Stockholm.
Bowed string instruments
A common feature of this group of string instrument is that the tone is produced with the use of a bow. Here you will find instruments in the violin family, viols and pochettes.
Keyboard instruments
The harpsichord, the clavichord and the piano are instruments with keys (keyboard) with different mechanisms. The collections include a large number of Swedish clavichords. There are also unusual keyboard instruments such as the dulcitone and the terpodion.
Percussion
Drums, xylophones, bells and rattles are examples of percussion instruments. The collections include percussion instruments from all over the world.
Brass instruments
Instruments that rely on the musician's lips to produce a tone can also be called labrosones, literally meaning “lip-vibrated instruments”. Here you will find instruments such as trumpets and horns. Many of them are Swedish instruments manufactured by Ahlberg & Olsson.
Free reed aerophones
"Free reed aerophones" is the term given to instruments such as the accordion, the harmonica and the harmonium (pump organ). The tone is produced by means of air flowing past a vibrating reed.
Sound reproducers
The group of 'sound reproducers' is home to phonographs, gramophones, cassette players and other devices that can reproduce recorded music. The collections also contain older radio equipment.
Mechanical instruments
There are nearly 100 mechanical instruments in the collections, from a number of different barrel organs and music boxes to mechanical pump organs. A common feature of all of these instruments is that they are fully or partly self-playing.
Electrical and electronic instruments
The collections include synthesizers and electronic organs, but also electric string instruments, amplifiers and studio equipment. A number of the instruments are manufactured in Sweden.
Nordic folk music instruments
The museum has a large collection of Nordic folk music instruments, mostly from the 1800s. Here you will find many different types of instruments, including the nyckelharpa (keyed fiddle), the Hardanger fiddle and many sorts of pipe.