Here’ something to be thankful for - laser harps!
Nortec Collective is building a laser harp, from a design made by Stephen Hobley:
Luis Vargas our technician guru is in charge of making this instrument work, the plan is to use it on our live presentations for controlling our synthesizer, Here is a preview, coming soon in our [...]

The latest issue of Make magazine, Make 15, looks like it will be a must-by for anyone interested in music DIY projects. 
Check the list of articles:
 

Bend It Like Bach by Karen K. Hansen in Maker - Tim Kaiser’s fabulously weird world of music. 
Solar-Powered Studio by Charles Platt in Maker
VoIPing the iPod Touch by Erica Sadun in [...]

Some interesting footage of Stephen Hobley testing out his DIY laser harp. 
Says Stephen:
The visuals look great, but the sound is out of sync (we’re not film-makers!). In retrospect we should have had more people working on the different parts of the shoot.
How tired was I when we shot this? We’d been setting up since 8:30pm [...]

Stephen Hobley has put together a collection of information on how to build a laser harp.
Here’s a video of the laser harp in action:

How to Build a Laser Harp

Hobley’s site has code samples and more.