The vibraslap was the first patent granted to the instrument manufacturing company Latin Percussion.[3]
The vibraslap's inventor was Martin Cohen.[4] Cohen was told by percussionist Bobby Rosengarden, "If you want to make some money, make a jawbone that doesn’t break." About the inventing process Cohen remembers, "I had never seen a jawbone before, but I had heard one on a Cal Tjader album. I found out that it was an animal skull that you would strike, and the sound would come from the teeth rattling in the loose sockets. So I took that concept and invented the Vibraslap, which was my first patent." [5]