Atypical/non-instruments used in a mix

[algernon7]

I mic'd a jones soda bottle for a rhythm track, then pitched the samples down.
In the same track, I also used screws in a glass with a little bit of water and jangled them around.
In the same track again, I used a thin-bottomed sauce pan with a bit of water in the bottom. I miced it as i swished it around and scraped the bottom with the metal side of a screwdriver. I ended up putting a ring-mod on that sample and it sounded awesome.

[Ronan Murphy]

There is a great story of Judas Priest using a bunch of Ringo Starr's cultlery on a silver serving platter for the giant back beat on Metal Gods

I have used bricks, rock, radiators, vibrators, screwdrivers...

Here I was doing a record for a great band called the Kildares and we used a foot/soccerball

[Jeff da Weasel]

You don't even have to get into wacky home-brewed noisemakers to get "untraditional" on a pop/rock record. All of you have heard "Strawberry Fields Forever" a million times, and don't even blink when George whips out the swarmandel (an Indian zither-like instrument).

There are literally hundreds of instruments that go beyond what you find in western pop/rock or even orchestral arrangements. Look at cultures in Africa, in the middle and far East, and there's a whole world of new sounds out there.

[Magpel]

Trash and industrial artifacts have been so widely used for so long, they're not even novel anymore. Thank Luke Cresswell, I suppose...

I still think one of the best usages of the "found sound" is the basketball that is the primary drum sound on the great Big Star song, "Downs."