Every now and again I get to work on my favourite make of vibraphones, a Deagan. There is something about the sound of Deagan vibes that I particularly like. The wide bars generate the power, but still manage to retain that sweetness you get with narrow bars. This is the first 590 that I have worked one, but from my perspective as an instrument maker, there is very little difference to the Aurora other than the end frames. The endn frames themselves are actually very well made, probably better so than the Aurora, certainly more labour intensive, which is probably why this model is so rare.
As mentioned in the video, there is some need for cosmetic work. I deliberated a lot over whether to do this work prior to sale since it would undoubtedly make the instrument more desirable, however I decided to keep it original which also has value. Other than the invasive nature of the process and associated risks, the sheer amount of time that it would require, and therefore additional cost to what is already an expensive instrument, there would also be considerable difficulties in colour matching. The refurbished examples I have seen, were done in that standard gold, which for me just doesn’t look good at all. I prefer to use a rose gold which is much softer and nicer (and much closer to the colour of the bars), but also much more difficult to colour balance across a whole set of resonator tubes which are sprayed individually. Furthermore, the end frames would be best powder coated. This is something that I do not do in house, so matching the existing colour would be almost impossible and certainly come with additional costs. The final element being the woodwork is simpler to replicate, in fact nowadays there are more options with clear coats that are much more robust, but to do this side of the job is where all the high risks are – for instance, removing the note pegs took hours to do just one rail; very carefully extracting the twisted nails that hold it in place. Removing all the logos woold be the same heart in the mouth, hours of stress. The easy route is to mask them, but that simply never looks good. Incidentally the refurbished instruments I have seen do not have these logos on the end frames – now you know why!
The photo below of the high end, is the worst of the damage to the lacquer. This is basically sun damage coming in through the window. It is the same on the resonators, where the sun has hit the lower half on the players side, being exposed unlike the top half hidden by the dust cover (seen above). The audience side being permanently against the wall doesn’t have the fading.
All this is not to say that I didn’t do very much, quite the contrary. I really wasn’t happy with the way the electrics had been wired, both from a safety side and cosmetic. So everything was rewired and the earth wires reinstated through to both motors. This meant that the whole of the lower end frame was dismantled, modified and rebuilt. During this process I obviously tightened all the screws holding the legs together which were made accessible. Because the screws did need tightening, the same process (minus the wiring) also happened at the high end. What this process did reveal is that the colour of the legs is original since there was no colour difference to the parts that have never really seen daylight.
Whilst on the subject of motors, both work but are a bit noisy and there is no speed control. The motors themselves I remounted, reducing the noise considerably. I also 3D printed a blanking piece so that fingers cannot touch what were exposed terminal blocks. For me the motors being fitted to the low end is a downside of the instrument and if it were to be mine I would look to have this aspect converted which would make the assembly process easier.
The overall setup of the instrument at the ends was actually very good, which is unusual for a Deagan. However rail three had warped primarily due to the ridiculously powerful spring that they use. In the photograph below you can see the insert piece (sycamore) between the note rail and the aforementioned note pegs that I had to remove to do this work.
The damper bar had also suffered from the overpowered spring. Deagan cast their damper bars, so straightening them is another highly stressful task with less than satisfactory results. In the image below you can see that I have refaced the damper bar to ensure that is is actually flat and obviously put on new felt. A new softer spring was fitted with the original kept aside for the new owner.
The bars themselves are almost perfect. There is only one or two spots where corrosion has occurred, nothing bad enough to justify the invasive treatment required which would destroy the finish. The tuning I left for the new owner to determine, but they are tuned to A=440 Hertz.
Finally, it comes with covers made by the previous owner who did a very good job accommodating some awkward shapes!
If you have read down to here, thank you very much! If you are interested in buying the vibe please send me an email, I will not discuss financial arrangements in the public domain!
