How Much does a marimba cost?
MrGreenGenes04
About what is the used price range too?
Thanks.
Ed Mann
> I'm just wondering, about how much would a cheap basic marimba cost new?
> About what is the used price range too?
>
> Thanks.
*****You might find one in an out-of-the-way antique store for $500 or
more, but not likely. Expect to pay at least $1000 for anything you
might find...up to 3-4-5-6-7 or more kilobucks.
*Ed
NINJA
shit i remember my first band bought one for 50.00 at a tag sale
in excellent condition too
while on the subject are marimba made from differant woods
or all the same mahogany isnt it!
were not gonna take it
never did and never will !
Harvey Neptune
I just bought a five octave marimba, rosewood bars for the school where
I teach. Discount price is: $10,000. You can get a 4 1/3 marimba with
plastic bars for about $4,500. Rosewood is what the better instruments
are made of. Musser uses a synthetic material on their budget line
instruments which they call Kelon (doesn't sound as good as wood),
Yamaha uses a synthetic material on their lower line instruments called
Acoustilon (sounds better than Kelon but nowhere in the league of rosewood).
Hope this helps...
Ed Mann
*****I once did a session with Mark Isham where I brought a wood and a
kelon marimba so he could choose.....he chose the Kelon because in the
booth "it sounded more like wood..."
Ed Mann
***I guess a second contribution to this discussion (which I welcome -
whoever asks about marimabas?) would be that "in my opinion" its not
that the synthetics do not sound as good, they just sound different.
For electronic (pickup) use...hands down Kelon sounds better - at
least to my ears. FZ agreed. He had B&B pickups installed in his 4 1/3
octave Rosewood marimba but never used them except for rehearsal
(while we were waiting for the kelon to be finished) - when we
compared it w/the Kelon - no contest. Kelon better. Wood sounded
excessively kluncky.
Ed Mann
were made of Honduras Rosewood. However, stocks of those woods began
to wear thin at least 10 years before that (can you say - "hideous
deforestation and goodbye to another critical rainforest"?), and after
1960 companies began to use Brazilian Rosewood - just as valuable as a
rainforest but noticably inferior as a marimba bar. Little sustain -
sour overtones - muted. Recently companies have begun to access better
(=harder) rosewoods, from I do not know where. The African wood
Pernambuco (sp?) makes a great marimba bar.
All of this leads me to EMBRACE the friggin' synthetics. I have had
WONDERFUL times playing th Kelon marimba. It is ALL that RUTH will
Play (last I checked in w/her)
So..you know...save the rainforest and DO NOT buy ANY hard wood. Even
a dope pipe. (buy a PROTO>>>)
Bill
Please say hi to Ruth for us old-timers, Ed. Thanks. :)
Sincerely,
Bill
Gary
> (buy a PROTO>>>)
aghhh--pppthhhh pass me a napkin Ed
Harvey Neptune
> ***I guess a second contribution to this discussion (which I welcome -
> whoever asks about marimabas?) would be that "in my opinion" its not
> that the synthetics do not sound as good, they just sound different.
> For electronic (pickup) use...hands down Kelon sounds better - at
> least to my ears. FZ agreed. He had B&B pickups installed in his 4 1/3
> octave Rosewood marimba but never used them except for rehearsal
> (while we were waiting for the kelon to be finished) - when we
> compared it w/the Kelon - no contest. Kelon better. Wood sounded
> excessively kluncky.
Ed,
Interesting observations. I think the reason that Kelon worked better
for you is because its' a lot brighter sound than rosewood, hence it
will probably cut through a dense orchestration when recording. For
solo marimba playing, I don't know of a single person who prefers Kelon,
and I've seen many of the greats (Leigh Howard Stevens, Keiko Abe,
Evelyn Glennie, Shee-e Wu, etc). Personally, in my percussion ensemble,
I use a mix of rosewood marimbas and Kelon. In fact, its a 50/50 split
(2 rosewoods, 2 kelons). That gives you the best of both worlds, and I
think the overall sound probably blends better than all rosewood or all Kelon.
...and yes it is strange to find another person to talk marimbas with on
the Zappa board! Thanks for all your contributions and please keep them
'a comin'
Gary
> I don't know of a single person who prefers Kelon,
> and I've seen many of the greats (Leigh Howard Stevens, Keiko Abe,
> Evelyn Glennie, Shee-e Wu, etc).
I'm not sure that Evelyn Glennie's preferences would apply to people
in general given her profound deafness. Not that you probably don't
have a good point.
Ed Mann
> Ed Mann wrote:
>
> > ***I guess a second contribution to this discussion (which I welcome -
> > whoever asks about marimabas?) would be that "in my opinion" its not
> > that the synthetics do not sound as good, they just sound different.
> > For electronic (pickup) use...hands down Kelon sounds better - at
> > least to my ears. FZ agreed. He had B&B pickups installed in his 4 1/3
> > octave Rosewood marimba but never used them except for rehearsal
> > (while we were waiting for the kelon to be finished) - when we
> > compared it w/the Kelon - no contest. Kelon better. Wood sounded
> > excessively kluncky.
>
> Ed,
> Interesting observations. I think the reason that Kelon worked better
> for you is because its' a lot brighter sound than rosewood, hence it
> will probably cut through a dense orchestration when recording.
***What I mean to say is that it just sounds warmer when heard purely
from the pickup/tranducer source - the attack of the mallet is more
balanced with the tone of the bar - the wood (again amplified from
pickup) had an imbalance - too much mallet klunk -
For
> solo marimba playing, I don't know of a single person who prefers Kelon,
> and I've seen many of the greats (Leigh Howard Stevens, Keiko Abe,
> Evelyn Glennie, Shee-e Wu, etc).
**definitely all of the neo-classical players will choose wood - I
think of the kelon and other synthetics as being a a 3rd type of
instrument. And - to hear Ruth play Bach on her kelon is a wonderful
experience - beautiful bell-like tone cloud underneath due to the
longer sustain.
Also for anyone who is traveling - the synthetics have advantages due
to durability, etc. I would be curious to know what Stephan Harris
travels with. He is an amazing player.
yeh - mallets - spread the word!
thanks Harvey
Ed