Tag: Second hand vibraphone

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!

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