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David Langlois plays with Chris Pistorino, Billy Nemec and Tim Clement of the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn at Bar Tabac on Smith Street, where they perform Tuesday nights. Cassandra Giraldo for The Wall Street Journal

For two decades, the percussionist David Langlois has earned a living—and been surprisingly busy at it—playing a washboard with a fondue pot, dishpan, wood block, cheese grater and the metal end of a garden tool attached.

The 42-year-old credits the strange instrument with helping him stand out in New York’s competitive music scene. He performs almost every night of the week, including long-standing weekly gigs with the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn at restaurants in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene and Cobble Hill, and in November played two “Boardwalk Empire”-themed parties for HBO with the band. Unlike many musicians, he doesn’t hold a day job.

Mr. Langlois wears thimbles on his fingers to play his homemade washboard instrument with a fondue pot, dishpan and cheese grater attached. Cassandra Giraldo for The Wall Street Journal

“There’s thousands of amazing drummers in New York,” Mr. Langlois said, “but playing dishpan and pots, I guess I was the best one.”

Unlike the washboard players of New Orleans, he holds his horizontally on his lap, hitting, tapping and brushing rhythms with thimbles on four fingers of each hand. He lends his pots and pans to a variety of musical styles, including swing, blues, early jazz of the ’20s and ’30s, as well as “gypsy” jazz, an offshoot made famous by Django Reinhardt.

Born on the outskirts of Paris, Mr. Langlois grew up in another small French town, Le Plessis-Robinson, and as a teenager lived with his grandparents in an Alpine village near the Swiss border. He now lives in Park Slope, in a one-bedroom apartment whose backyard reminds him of the nature that surrounded him as a boy.

His rig is his own invention and came about because of the space constraints of touring. As he prepared to set off with the Gilles Remy Jazz Band in the south of France, there was already a double bass in the car, leaving no room for his drum set. On a bandmate’s suggestion, he bought a dusty washboard at a thrift shop.

Initially, Mr. Langlois was unimpressed with the new instrument, playing it vertically with his grandmother’s two thimbles. “I got really, really frustrated,” he said. “I was in front of my big drum set there, and there was not enough sound. There was only two different sounds.”

Then one day, while waiting for coffee to brew, he started banging on kitchen objects. One of his grandmother’s pots, drying on a rack after being used for fondue, gave off a cowbell-like ring.

Another gadget, which he suspects served as a grater, made a different, also appealing sound, and his late grandfather helped him fasten objects to his washboard.

The resulting instrument, while full of sentimental value, is much cheaper than the drums Mr. Langlois used to play. “When you have a $3,000 snare drum, you’re stressed out,” he said. “I don’t mind if there is a scratch on this.”

He replaces the dishpan every eight to 16 months, and still buys thimbles in France, where he said they are heavier and come in different sizes. “With some bands, I have to bang a lot and very hard, so I pass a lot of thimbles,” he said.

The washboard rig works well with the style of music promoted by the Django Reinhardt NY Festival at Birdland, said Pat Philips, its co-creator and co-producer. Ms. Philips said she invited Mr. Langlois to play as a guest years ago after hearing him play in New York, and he has returned many times since.

Typically, there is no percussion instrument in this style of music: A guitar keeps the rhythm. But since Mr. Langlois plays more softly, using the dishpan as a kind of snare drum, he adds a layer of texture that doesn’t overpower the other musicians.

“He’s a real crowd-pleaser,” Ms. Philips said. “He has a very amicable way with the other musicians, so it’s great fun.”

Billy Nemec, a guitarist and vocalist with the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn, said he and his fellow musicians are used to seeing people’s reactions to the washboard rig.

“People are always staring at David,” he said. “They ask him if he made it himself.”

Mr. Langlois said he appreciates the attention-grabbing nature of his instrument, though he often will say he plays pots and pans to avoid confusion with the washboard style played in New Orleans.

“You just sit that down on a chair, and people are staring, already wondering what is this, taking pictures,” he said. “They’re impressed with your instrument. They didn’t even know it was an instrument.”

Mr. Langlois and the band also perform Mondays at Chez Oskar on DeKalb Avenue. Cassandra Giraldo for The Wall Street Journal