This Premier 751 vibraphone, probably made in the late 1980’s, came into my workshop for repair, full refurbishment and sale.  The repairs required in the past would have seen the instrument scrapped, but this model of vibraphone in any condition are now becoming difficult to find.  As can be seen from the photographs and video, all the damage has miraculously disappeared.  Furthermore all the modifications that I have developed over the years to improve the performance and longevity of these instruments have all been applied.   The electrical system has been fully inspected with the addition of a kettle lead socket and PAT tested.  The note bars required thoroughly cleaning which revealed only minor scratching after the tuning had been corrected.  The overall result is a professional grade instrument that works and sounds better than when it was made.

As I mention in the video, Premier vibraphones are generally considered to have excellent tonal quality.  However as you will appreciate, the assessment of tonal quality is very subjective and varies from person to person.  Combining this high tonal standard with a very portable and slimline design concept, these instruments were very popular with professional players.  Nowadays players prefer the sound of the Musser vibe which is perceived to be louder and have the important advantage of being able to be bowed across the entire range of the instrument, but they are much bigger and heavier.  Despite this, there still remain playing situations that are better suited to the Premier vibraphone especially those long hanging chords.

Premier 751 Vibraphone Note bars

Everything comes at a cost.  By decreasing weight and increasing portability the possibility of damage also goes up.  This vibraphone suffered the same fate as many Premier instruments when heavy objects fall on or against them; the tubes were dented and bent resulting in a twisted frame.  The bottom line is that these are musical instruments and need to treated with the same respect that you would treat a double bass or a cello, which are arguably more robust.  It is probably the bane of virtually every percussionist, the way people treat their gear.

Because these vibraphones are pretty much all now over 30 years old, from my experience I feel that it is now essential that they are fully stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up.  In this case, like most examples that I see coming through my workshop, the nature of the repairs needed, require parts of the instrument stripped to component level anyway.  Obviously if cosmetic work is also required, as was the case here also, this work is made much easier when the instrument is in pieces and certainly saves a lot of masking tape!

The main benefit of doing the job properly is that, in the process, dozens of small issues (like the hundreds of loose rivets) will be automatically corrected.  However these are vibraphones, and in order for them to work properly, everything needs to correct.  Whenever a vibraphone comes into my workshop, I am told that there is not much wrong with it, just this or that.  As I strip them down I observe hundreds of minor repairs needing attention.  These are percussion instruments, if all of these minor repairs are left it would result in unwanted noise and playing issues.  Thankfully, as I have said, all of this work has been undertaken and I see no reason for this instrument to not survive another thirty years of use (and abuse!)

Premier 751 Vibraphone Player’s side

Because this model of vibraphone was discontinued so long ago now and my stock of authentic spares has largely been used up, therefore I have been manufacturing components for these instruments for many years.  This is not an uncommon situation.  My attitude has always been that if I can make parts for instruments cheaper, quicker and better myself, than I can obtain those parts from the manufacturer, then I do so in order to avoid what can be long delays in the time it takes to repair instruments.  This process often involves subtly altering the original design of the component or instrument to address the reason why the original part failed as well as to improve its function, ease of maintenance and to facilitate future repairs.  For instance, on this instrument, the holes in the bushes that support the fan shaft on the original design are oversized to reduce friction in the system.  However introduces unwanted noise.  Furthermore there is no easy way for the player to add lubrication resulting in unsightly and dirty oil smears running down the resonators.  The design of my alternative parts addresses these issues and enables the easy replacement of the bearing surface.  The inclusion of these parts do require some of the resonator tubes to be modified to increase the available space, but it is my view that the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks of deviating from the original design, changes that to most people wouldn’t even be noticed.

If you are interested in buying this instrument, please send me an email.

Thank you for reading this.

Paul Jefferies