-_dup1 Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 I've posted about this before on Craig's forum, but... I might actually do it this time... I'm seriously thinking about building my own marimba! I was looking to get a set of basic marimba mallets I could use while tuning the keys... And to use for playing, once I'm done building this hypothetical marimba. I'm looking to get a Baja Marimba Band kind of sound... Would the medium version of this marimba mallet be a good choice for general marimba playing? I suppose I'll need to get several sets of mallets eventually, but I'd like to get a versatile, pretty good quality set of mallets for start with... If you have other suggestions for marimba mallets, please post 'em... Thanks!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djarrett Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 Hank: I can recommend that you look at several options. Most will be evident that they are general purpose mallets.Here are three great choices: www.vicfirth.com www.mikebalter.com www.innovativepercussion.com Hope this helps. DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brakka Posted December 2, 2002 Share Posted December 2, 2002 promark\'s mallets page Evelyn Glennie uses promarks (according to promark). Making mallets would be way easier than making a marimba. Rubber ball, yarn, stick (rattan) and superglue. I've seen sites with how-to's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-_dup1 Posted December 2, 2002 Author Share Posted December 2, 2002 Originally posted by Brakka.: Making mallets would be way easier than making a marimba. Rubber ball, yarn, stick (rattan) and superglue. I've seen sites with how-to's.Thanks, I might look at that option too. Yeah, building a marimba would be a colossal project if I take it on, but I'm feeling lucky, as I remodeled my basement into a soundproof tracking room this year and making a marimba can't be more difficult than that, right? ...right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djarrett Posted December 4, 2002 Share Posted December 4, 2002 [/qb]Thanks, I might look at that option too, ... and making a marimba can't be more difficult than that, right? ...right? [/QB] Um, HMMMM!?! I think it will be a test of your very existance! DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-_dup1 Posted December 4, 2002 Author Share Posted December 4, 2002 Originally posted by djarrett: I think it will be a test of your very existance! I run marathons, which are sometimes a test of your will to live, so a marimba can't be THAT difficult, right? Right? >sound of crickets< Oh well, I've researched this project pretty thoroughly and I think it's doable, even though it's going to be time-consuming. It's going to be a 4-octave chromatic marimba... I'll have to tune 49 keys!!! My dad (who is pretty good at woodworking) offered to help out, so at least I'll have someone else to share my misery with! I ordered Honduran rosewood from my local specialty wood shop today, so the project has now officially begun... BTW, I ended up going with blue (medium) Mike Balter mallets (haven't recieved them yet). Thanks for the suggestions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audiobotica Posted December 5, 2002 Share Posted December 5, 2002 Check out Fred King\'s Build Your Own Marimba videos. Yours in Music, Ben Fury Yours in Music, Ben Fury Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-_dup1 Posted December 5, 2002 Author Share Posted December 5, 2002 Originally posted by Audiobotica: Check out Fred King\'s Build Your Own Marimba videos. Thanks, Ben -- I've seen the web site for those videos but passed on them because it seems more geared towards making an African style marimba instead of a Western style marimba. My main reference for the design of my marimba is an old 1956 Mechanix Illustrated magazine article called "Build Your Own Marimba". I've read about at least one other person on the net who was able to successfully build a 4-octave chromatic marimba based on that design. (She said it took 250 hours...) My secondary reference is this site , which details the making of a bass marimba. On that site, they reference a book called "Make Your Own Marimbas", which I've ordered and should be receiving any day now. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to use the book as a reference, but I might get some "second opinions" about the design I'm going to pursue. I'm hoping that the book will give some tips as far as using PVC tubing for the resonators. (My plan is to take the design of the Mechanix Illustrated article but use PVC tubing instead of aluminum/brass/cardboard.) In any case, that's probably more than you wanted to know, but if anyone out there is curious about marimba construction or if anyone is interested in hearing about my progress with this project, I'd be glad to provide occasional updates on this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audiobotica Posted December 5, 2002 Share Posted December 5, 2002 Originally posted by Hank The Cave Peanut: Originally posted by Audiobotica: Check out Fred King\'s Build Your Own Marimba videos. Thanks, Ben -- I've seen the web site for those videos but passed on them because it seems more geared towards making an African style marimba instead of a Western style marimba. My main reference for the design of my marimba is an old 1956 Mechanix Illustrated magazine article called "Build Your Own Marimba". I know that article! I found it online, printed it and walked into one of my second engineer's rooms and told him that I'm really dissatisfied with all the mallet sounds his Roland HandSonic pumps out. I handed him the article and said, "Here build one of these right away!" and turned and walked out. He'd only been working for me a month so he didn't know if I was serious or not!! LOL That was almost as good as the time I told everybody to gather all their keys and rack modules together cause we were going to replace them all with Synphoniums. Yours in Music, Ben Fury Yours in Music, Ben Fury Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audiobotica Posted December 5, 2002 Share Posted December 5, 2002 Originally posted by Hank The Cave Peanut: [that's probably more than you wanted to know, but if anyone out there is curious about marimba construction or if anyone is interested in hearing about my progress with this project, I'd be glad to provide occasional updates on this forum.I'd appreciate that. I love homemade instruments. My proudest achievement as a 12 year old was building my own dulcimer. There are tons of fascinating instruments built every year that only a handful of people ever get to hear. Richard Waters' Waterphone is just one amazing sounding example. Yours in Music, Ben Fury Yours in Music, Ben Fury Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrummerCafe Posted December 5, 2002 Share Posted December 5, 2002 Typically a Medium or Medium/Hard yarn mallet is considered a good general mallet for playing marimba. This is what most school programs have their percussion students buy for their first pair of marimba mallets. Drummer Cafe - community drum & percussion forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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