Tag: Paul Jefferies Instrument maker

Deagan 590 Vibraphone (ref#1975)

Wednesday 10 September 2025

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!

Adams Concert Marimba (ref#1890)

Thursday 7 December 2023

This Adams 4.1/3 octave Concert marimba with dark Honduras Rosewood note bars is available for sale.  The instrument has been fully serviced and repaired where needed and the notes have been tuned (A=440 Hertz).  It comes with a full cover.  Condition, on the whole is very good.  There are a few battle scars and some compression marks on the notes, but on the whole it is a very clean instrument.


With the exception of tuning jobs, it was a refreshing change for me to work on a keyboard percussion instrument which wasn’t a vibraphone; everything seems to go much more smoothly.  My standard operating procedure when repairing instruments, unless they are complete basket cases, obviously starts with assembly and inspection.  Then when I disassemble the instrument, everything is thoroughly cleaned which, in most cases, should be a job in itself.  I mention this, because the vinyl wraps that manufacturers put on the instruments tend to suck in filth making them feel nasty which was the case with this instrument.  Thankfully, the wrap is also very resilient, so I could give this instrument a good scrubbing and lose that feeling of being contaminated.  It is during the cleaning process that I pick up on all of the minor little repairs, check screw tensions, etc.  I start with the frame so that I can put the cleaned elements straight back onto the instrument.

My feelings towards these Adams frames are getting more positive as time goes on.  After all they are now tried and tested.  There are some things that I don’t like and some elements that could be much better, but these things come at a cost that evidently musicians are unwilling to pay for.  This instrument must be at least ten years old, and all I had to do to the trolley was lubricate the height adjustment gear.

The main problem with these bigger instruments, is note rail sag as the inside ends of the rails compress at the hinge, but this can be pretty much corrected.  I say pretty much because I don’t know how good the rails were to begin with, all I see is that they never go perfectly flat.  Thankfully on marimbas they don’t need to be absolutely perfect, as close as you can is good enough.  This is more to do with the acoustic balance across the range of the instrument by keeping the note bars at the correct height for the resonators.  Murphy’s law being that the area most affected by note rail sag is the area most played.

Most of the repair work was on the resonators.  These also fold.  This time however it was the clasp that failed, the resonators fell out and the longest tube was badly dented and the rail bent.  The difficulty with repairing these particular sort of resonator is the downside of the tubes being permanently fixed in place, meaning that I have to manipulate the whole bank of tubes instead of simply extracting the individual damaged tubes.  The secondary difficulty with these tubes was the powder coating which is chipping off instead of wearing through, but all things considered, the repair was remarkable successful, although you can still see the crease in the bottom of the low B flat tube in the photo below.

The note bars just needed tuning.  This is another area where someone like me can make a big difference when compared to the manufacturers.  The bars can be treated as belonging to a single instrument and tuned sympathetically to each other.  This is what I mean by balancing an instrument.  There are limits as to what is possible when retuning note bars, a lot of it depends on how the bars were initially tuned and how well the the note blank was seasoned, but again, the market demands affordable instruments and these are the details that are compromised.  Mostly it is the upper partials which go flat that cause the problems and this instrument did suffer a bit from this, but fortunately I could pull them back up to pitch, and if not to where I would ideally want them at least in the right ball park.  After tuning the bars are sealed and in this case new cord was fitted.

There have been a lot of developments in marimbas over the years and the bigger instruments certainly sound great, but if you are looking for a decent marimba that is easy to shift or a practice instrument that will fit in your house, this is a good buy.

Ross 229 Vibraphone (ref:1927)

Thursday 20 April 2023

This Ross vibraphone model 229 has come in to my workshop for sale.  As can be seen from the images, it is in excellent condition with only very minor scuffs on a couple of resonators and some wear on the ends of the note bed. This instrument was purchased when Ross produced instruments in the US and has only been gigged a few times which is probably why it is still in such good condition. From what I gather, Ross parted company with Musser and set up by himself and essentially copied the Musser vibraphone, just like pretty much every other manufacturer, and stuck a different badge on it. From my perspective, that of an instrument maker, I can say that the similarities also include methods of manufacture and it even has components clearly supplied by Musser, or bought from their suppliers. The frame is different, it has the height adjustment system copied from the Yamaha vibraphones as well as their larger central pedal. The main marketing feature was that in terms of sound, the instruments were modelled on the Musser vibe from the 1960’s, but I don’t have the data or an instrument available to comment on this.  What I can say is that it is a nice sounding vibraphone.

As discussed in the video, the main job, like every vibraphone that comes through my workshop, was to re-work the power connection.  In short, the strain relief that manufacturers put on vibraphones are generally not fit for purpose.  I always give the power cords on instruments a good, firm tug to recreate the strain exerted as if someone was tripping over the cable.  Most of the time the result is that I have a lead with bare wires exposed which, if it were plugged in, would be live.  It doesn’t take much imagination to join the dots and also understand why I test them.  It is now standard practice for me to fit a socket on the instrument and supply a long kettle lead, so if the scenario is repeated, it just unplugs the instrument.  I guess that this may be annoying if it happens, but better to be annoyed with me than electrocuted!  Another benefit of the detachable cable is that I have also removed the temptation to wrap the cable around the note bed, so the chances of damaging the cable internally are also removed, assuming that you coil cables correctly and don’t use the elbow technique.

I do a PAT test all vibraphones before I do any work on them, literally before I touch them, because of all the horror stories I have seen and in order to protect myself.  I test and certify them when work is completed and make a record of the results.  It is worth saying that a lot of vibraphones that fail PAT tests and then come to me for repair, fail due to the wrong test being applied or the wrong settings being used on the test machine.  Those that have valid PAT tests, shouldn’t, most commonly for the reasons discussed above or other cable wear and plug issues.  My advice for anyone getting a PAT test on their vibraphone would be to go to a tool hire shop which is where I originally learned these skills.  As a plant fitter, they will, like I did, test a massive variety of electrical items and consequently understand the testing procedure at a deeper level because the test equipment is also used as a diagnosis tool.  If the wrong test is applied to an item, it can destroy electronic control systems, because a plant fitter will know electrical items at the component level, they simply will not make this very common and expensive mistake.

Time was spent correcting the set up of the vibraphone to make it play correctly.  Contrary to what I am told, most vibraphones that come to me don’t play very well.  Primarily on vibraphones, what I mean by this, is that they don’t resonate or dampen consistently.  Invariably the damper systems and have been adjusted and adjusted to make them work, but this introduces more problems down the line, most of which are very time consuming and therefore expensive to repair.

The damper pedal made a bit of noise, so the design concept was re-worked because I was not especially happy with how it was done.  Hopefully this work has prevented future issues, but everything I do is specifically designed to facilitate future repairs, so if something does go wrong, the hardest part of the work has already been done.

Unwanted noise reduction is a large part of my job.  On vibraphones this can be an uphill struggle, largely due to terrible design concepts being badly implemented.  This vibe, being a direct copy of a Musser, means that the forthcoming alternative parts I have designed to reduce fan shaft noise on those instruments, will be just as easy to fit on these vibraphones.  The preparatory work has been done to make the existing system much quieter, but it does also possess the Musser noise at fast speeds.

The rest of my time was spent giving the instrument a thorough clean and a general service.

Also mentioned in the video is the method of assembly which isn’t particularly user friendly or suitably robust for the gigging musician.  This aspect of instrument design is generally poor on most percussion instruments, irrespective of manufacturer.  Overcoming these problems of poor design and the resultant damage to the instruments, has kept me busy for over twenty five years, so it is definitely not an unusual criticism.  My advice is that if the instrument is to be moved a lot, changes to the frame should be considered.

If you have any general questions that other people may benefit from or find interesting, please ask in the comments section below.  If you are interested in purchasing the instrument please send me an email or give me a ring because I like to keep all business dealings confidential.  Thank you for reading.

Premier 751 Vibraphone (ref:1867)

Monday 17 October 2022

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

What model is my Premier Vibraphone?

Thursday 13 December 2018

There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding which model of Premier vibraphone people have. Therefore I am writing this post to impart the relevant information and to defer my looming insanity caused by writing the same thing over and over again.

The list is arranged in reverse chronological order because, basically there are more of the modern vibes still around, so the idea is that you will get to your vibe sooner. I know that there are some more modern models missing from the list, and I may insert them into this post at a later date. But for now this should be sufficient to answer most questions about the identification of the model of your Premier vibe.

Premier OAV

Basically this is a butch 751 and was produced in the 1990’s.  Most of the components are shared with the 751 except for the obvious.

Premier 751

And here it is, the 751. The image above is from the 1998 catalogue, and the image below from 1972 which I included because I loved the gold plating! The 751 has graduated note bars, whereas the 701 does not. I will say that again to clear up any potential misunderstanding.

The 751 has graduated note bars, whereas the 701 does not.

The term graduated bars refers to the width of the notes.  On the 751 the low F to C are 2″ wide and the rest of the notes are 1.1/2″ wide. Therefore the 751 is six inches longer than the 701, measuring 56 inches as opposed to 50 inches. There are also other differences in the frame because of this extra length, but essentially the two vibes are the same.

Because the 751 has wide bars, the instruments that are more desirable than the 701 and achieve a higher price on the second hand market.  Neither instrument is made anymore.

There have been a number of changes and modifications over the years.  Primarily it is the motor system that has been changed, but there have been other component modifications, as well as the switch from polished to linished note bars.  Linishing is a more abrasive finish creating the longitudinal lines, obviously cheaper to do than polishing, however the polished notes created too much glare from stage lights that blinded the players so the change was beneficial.  The basic design however has not changed since the instrument was launched.

It is the type of motor that is fitted to the instrument that is key to determining the age of either the 751 or the 701, mainly because the spare parts break down had the dates of production listed to help dealers provide the correct sized belt for customers.  The 751 was first produced in 1966 to coincide with the England football team’s lifting of the world cup, the most famous event in the entire history of that sport.

Premier 701

The Premier 701 vibraphone was first seen in the 1963 catalogue.  The era of plastic has arrived in earnest.  Gone are the chromed castings and myriad of machined components in favour of much cheaper to produce plastic parts.  New note pegs, simpler top frame, better pedal and a more basic, but much more reliable motor system.  The 701 was a huge leap forward and is a design that has stood the test of time.  It is still to this day one of the most portable vibraphones ever produced.

If you were to ask me what my feelings were about the 701 and the 751 fifteen or twenty years ago, well I was quite damning (if you can believe that!).  Now my feelings have changed.  I think that most of the problems that I had to fix on these vibes, and there are many, all boil down to usage.  These instruments are made to be packed up and carried in and out of venues; what they simply cannot cope with is being wheeled around assembled.  That said, they survive all sorts of abuse, I think that the proof of the pudding is that I am still restoring this style of vibraphone today and most are well over 40 years old.

The biggest obstacle I face when restoring these vibraphones are the lack of parts.  When Premier ceased production I was invited to relieve them of all their remaining parts.  This was by no means an inconsiderable investment, but secured my supply of parts for several years.  Because there are still so many of these vibraphones in use however, those parts have been used.  As each authentic component becomes unavailable I have been manufacturing or sourcing alternate suppliers.

Premier 750

The 750 was only made from 1963 until 1966 when it was superseded by the 751.  It is essentially a hybrid instrument utilising the frame style of the 700 but with the long pedal system which was developed to its finished design for the new 701.  The main advancement of the 750 was the arrival of the graduated note bars.  These instruments are rare, and although the frames are by no means as user friendly as the later 751, the note bars, like all of these old note bars are simply beautiful.

Premier 700

The 700 vibe was produced from 1951 until it was superseded by the 701 in 1963.  This instrument is the Premier’s original concept for the modern vibraphone.  As has been seen, it was to this instrument that the graduated bars were added to produce the 750 above which turned into the 751 and OAV.  The picture above is taken from the  1959 catalogue and shows developments to the damper pedal necessitating the addition of the lower bar which in turn made the central bar superfluous and was designed out for this instruments successor (the 701).

Between 1951 to 1958 the Premier used a central damper pedal.  This pedal was fixed facing the player and it was probably a response to player feedback, as well as the arrival of swivelling pedal designs seen on vibraphones made in the US that forced Premier to have  rethink.  The result was the long pedal design introduced by 1959, a design that is much more useful to multi percussionists than a single, central pedal.  However at this time, although the engineering of components was very high, the application was a typical Heath Robinson affair of bolting on some new components to the existing damper system.  To say that it worked would be overlooking all the aspects in which it didn’t work and it is no surprise that it didn’t survive for long.  Of course the older generation never had a problem with this fixed central pedal as we shall see, so presumably it was that bloody post war skiffle loving generation who are to blame for, well everything.

Sterling 729

Now your talking.  Exactly what is wrong with having to play with a stooped posture while standing on one leg?  The year is 1939 when men were real, erm, dapper gents.  Oh look he’s holding four beaters too, but I thought that was supposed to be “invented” later?  Anyway, we’re now in the vintage era and the catalogues make great reading:

“The vibraphone is a sure way of increasing your worth.  And this is the lowest price full compass instrument….The easiest of all mallet played instruments to learn.

Full compass?  Well not quite, three octaves from C to C, but never mind, However, “The Sterling has every feature:

Fast action damper.   Alloy resonators – light strong and non rusting.  Metal frame-ends – decorative and protective.  New cord clips – 100 per cent efficient.  All steel stand.  No loose screws or wing nuts.  Et cetera, et cetera.

Premier – a history of dreadful marketing!  What’s more the claims are a bit dubious.  Even though these vibraphones are small instruments, they are bloody heavy.  However you do generally find that they still have all the wing nuts!  It came with an electric motor, mine even works, although I wouldn’t advise that you should plug them in, they are slightly dangerous.  What I would love to see is a clockwork version.

Made from 1932-1939

All Purpose 728

The smaller brother to the Sterling, being lighter and an easier frame to pack away into one case weighs in at 47lb or around 21kg.  Came with a double spring clockwork motor instead of the electric motor.  Two and a half octave playing from G to C.  Introduced in 1937 made to 1939 when something happened to cease all production and effectively wiped the slate clean in terms of vibraphone design in Europe and of course gave the US manufacturers the breathing space to develop the instrument with little competition.

Premier Vibraphone later Concert Vibraphone 730

Made in 1930 in either Ivory and Nickel, Regal or Chromium plating with Pearlex, Glittergold, Sunset Pearl or Storm Pearl on the outside frame.  Three octave playing range (F-F) with graduated bars 2.1/4″ and 1.1/2″ wide – sound familiar?

I have never seen one, but they sound amazing, just read the catalogue…

“The vibraphone is deservedly becoming more and more popular.  It simply compels attention.  Its appealing tone is completely fascinating, and undeniably sweet.  No dance band, no orchestra – whether cinema, concert, theatre or string – will be able to hold its own without a vibraphone now that the public had had a taste of its mellowness and pulsating beauty.

“For haunting melodies and ballads, when bird-like clearness and sweetness and true tonal quality are required, it cannot be surpassed.  It has a tremendous future.

“The drummer equipped with a PREMIER vibraphone – he also has a tremendous future.  A Premier vibraphone provides the ambitious man with the wherewith to make money – to win fame and fortune. It is a gilt-edged investment that will pay dividends throughout your drumming career.

What more is there to say? (Bring on the global depression?)

Joking aside, the list of percussionists who endorsed this instrument during this era is very impressive, even nearly a hundred years later their names are recognisable.

Premier Two Octave Vibraphone 733, 734, 735.

From the 1930 catalogue this vibraphone is a two octave version of the full size concert vibraphone, the lower octave has been left out.  The 733 was in Nickel, the 734 Regal plated and the 735 was chromium

 

Premier Harpaphone 571 

Originally produced in 1930 by 1932 the design had switched from 1.1/2″ x 1/4″ carbonized steel to the same alloy is used for the note bars as the vibraphones 1.1/2 to 1.1/4 by 3/8 thick which is why I have included this instrument here.