ABSTRACT Palimpsests are conventionally understood to be manuscripts that have been reused or recycled, with traces of earlier inscriptions identifiable under later writings. Metaphorically, the term connotes ideas about reading off meanings, references or signs that remain recorded below surface appearance. Here I consider the palimpsestic nature of musical instruments, drawing extensively on the literary typology set out by Gérard Genette in his 1997 work Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree. Ultimately, I consider how any musical instrument is shadowed by a past that may or may not be visible through its morphology and/or surface ornamentation.