Thursday, May 9, 2013

Fine Tuning a Marimba Bar


You can fine tune any bar with a surform and an app tuner.


A "surform" is a cheese grater for wood, very effective for shaping and shaving. It's available at hardware stores or online for $10 or so. It's use is non-electric, and not NOISY, and it does not create enormous dust like electric sanders.


In this video I show briefly how to fine tune a slightly flat or really sharp bar with a surform. So this is how to keep ALL your bars in tune, unless one goes REALLY flat, in which case more drastic steps are required. 


This process leaves the bottom of your bar with scrape or cut marks, but that wont effect the sound quality. Wear gloves and experiment carefully with an out of tune bar and you and your students can keep your instruments in perfect tune for less than $10. If you have ever grated cheese, you can do this!

Here's the item: STANLEY SURFORM # 21-297

Questions? This is a simple skill ALL marimba owners can benefit from.