Hello Malleteers, 

I want to get an advance word out that Bourne Marimbas is again taking orders for marimbas. I am done doing much building myself (age related challenges) but I’ve taken on the help of professional woodworker (and jazz bassist) King Dahl. I will continue to handle the sales and delivery of instruments, and King will do the building and tuning, under my supervision until he has it down cold, which will not take much longer! King will work out of my shop in Bellingham and we plan to display his other fine creations upstairs in my office space. Big changes!

BTW, King is the force behind King Dahl Creative, and you can check out his woodworking achievements here:

https://www.kingdahlcreative.com

As a musician, King has the ears to make a good marimba, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he adds a few tweaks to actually improve our product line! I’ll be updating my web site soon with current instruments and prices, and in the meantime you can email me through the link at the right if you have questions.

Bourne Marimba Prices

Two Octave Soprano                         $1400
Two Octave Alto                                $1500
Two Octave Tenor                             $1600
Two Octave Soprano Lowrider         $1400

3 1/2 Octave Box                              $2000
Two Octave Baritone                        $2200
Nine Note Big Bass                          $2700

That’s all!  

Tom Bourne

Bourne Marimbas

www.bournemarimbas.com

TWO summer Marimba Building Workshops:

  

TWO summer Marimba Building Workshops: 

June 25-27, 2022

August 5-7, 2022

 

These are Saturday-through-Monday, or Friday-through-Sunday events, 8 hours each day. We will build at least one complete marimba, and the person or school that buys the marimba receives one free attendance at the event.

Teacher Tom Bourne has built over 1700 marimbas of all sizes for schools. Learn everything you need to know about building marimbas for your school or local marimba band.

As with our previous classes, we will construct a complete marimba from start to finish. Plus question answering and discussions on all marimba building related topics. PLUS, a peak at The World's Largest Marimba Bar!!

This class is suitable for adults and teens who can use, or are willing to learn to use, a few basic power tools and hand tools. The safe use of power tools is taught in this workshop. 

Class fee: $400. Special pricing for adults attending with a younger learner. Class limited to 7.

Bellingham, Washington is located just south of the Canadian border between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. It is near all kinds of great activities on the water and in the mountains. Escape the summer heat! Bellingham has a modern airport with direct flights to LA, Las Vegas and other cities in the western USA.

I can provide suggestions for procuring lodging in Bellingham, many options available.

To sign up, or for more information, contact Tom directly at: Bourne Marimbas

Next Marimba Building Workshop: March 11-13, 2022

 

Next Marimba Building Workshop: March 11-13, 2022

 

Next Bourne Marimbas 3 day marimba building workshop: March 11-13, 2022! This is a Friday-through-Sunday event, 8 hours each day. We will build at least one complete marimba, and the person or school that buys the marimba receives one free attendance at the event.

Teacher Tom Bourne has built over 1700 marimbas of all sizes for schools. Learn everything you need to know about building marimbas for your school or local marimba band.

As with our previous classes, we will construct a complete marimba from start to finish. Plus question answering and discussions on all marimba building related topics. PLUS, a peak at The World's Largest Marimba Bar!!

This class is suitable for adults and teens who can use, or are willing to learn to use, a few basic power tools and hand tools. The safe use of power tools is taught in this workshop. 

Class fee: $400. Special pricing for adults attending with a younger learner. Class limited to 7.

Bellingham, Washington is located just south of the Canadian border between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. It is near all kinds of great activities on the water and in the mountains. Escape the summer heat! Bellingham has a modern airport with direct flights to LA, Las Vegas and other cities in the western USA.

I can provide suggestions for procuring lodging in Bellingham, many options available.

To sign up, or for more information, contact Tom directly at: Bourne Marimbas

Next Marimba Building Workshop: October 22-24

 

Next Bourne Marimbas 3 day marimba building workshop: October 22-24! This is a Friday-through-Sunday event, 8 hours each day. We will build at least one complete marimba, and the person or school that buys the marimba receives one free attendance at the event.

Teacher Tom Bourne has built over 1700 marimbas of all sizes for schools. Learn everything you need to know about building marimbas for your school or local marimba band.

As with our previous classes, we will construct a complete marimba from start to finish. Plus question answering and discussions on all marimba building related topics. PLUS, a peak at The World's Largest Marimba Bar!!

This class is suitable for adults and teens who can use, or are willing to learn to use, a few basic power tools and hand tools. The safe use of power tools is taught in this workshop. 

Class fee: $400. Special pricing for adults attending with a younger learner. Class limited to 7.

Bellingham, Washington is located just south of the Canadian border between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. It is near all kinds of great activities on the water and in the mountains. Escape the summer heat! Bellingham has a modern airport with direct flights to LA, Las Vegas and other cities in the western USA.

I can provide suggestions for procuring lodging in Bellingham, many options available.

To sign up, or for more information, contact Tom directly at: Bourne Marimbas

Upcoming Marimba Building Workshop - August 13-15, 2021

Bourne Marimbas has scheduled a 3 day marimba building workshop for this August 13-15! This is a Friday-through-Sunday event, 8 hours each day. We will build at least one complete marimba, and the person or school that buys the marimba receives one free attendance at the event.

Teacher Tom Bourne has built over 1700 marimbas of all sizes for schools. Learn everything you need to know about building marimbas for your school or local marimba band.

As with our previous classes, we will construct a complete marimba from start to finish. For this session we also have scheduled some tuning and maintenance on a set of old bass bars. Plus question answering and discussions on all marimba building related topics. PLUS, a peak at The World's Largest Marimba Bar!!

This class is suitable for adults and teens who can use, or are willing to learn to use, a few basic power tools and hand tools. The safe use of power tools is taught in this workshop. 

Class fee: $400. Special pricing for adults attending with a younger learner. Class limited to 7.

Bellingham, Washington is located just south of the Canadian border between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. It is near all kinds of great activities on the water and in the mountains. Escape the summer heat! Bellingham has a modern airport with direct flights to LA, Las Vegas and other cities in the western USA.

I can provide suggestions for procuring lodging in Bellingham, many options available.

To sign up, or for more information, contact Tom directly at: Bourne Marimbas

Upcoming Marimba Building Workshop - May 1-3, 2020

Upcoming Marimba Building Workshop - May 1-3, 2020

Next Marimba Building Workshop, May 1-3.

We'll be making a Big Bass and one more instrument TBD. All in 3 days! Lots to learn and do.

Here's the description of the class:

Weekend class with marimba builder Tom Bourne

Where: Bourne Marimbas in Bellingham, Washington USA

Cost: $350, one free attendance with the purchase of any instrument we build.

As with our previous classes, we will build a complete marimba from start to finish.

Learn everything you need to know about building marimbas for your local school or marimba band. Since 1995, Tom Bourne has built over 1500 marimbas of all sizes for schools and invites you to his shop to share his knowledge.

Bellingham, Washington is located just south of the Canadian border between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. It is near all kinds of great activities on the water and in the mountains. Bellingham has a modern airport with direct flights to Denver, Las Vegas and other cities in the western USA.

This class is suitable for adults and teens who can use, or are willing to learn to use, a few basic power tools and hand tools safely. 

I can provide suggestions in procuring lodging in Bellingham, many options available.

Class limited to 7.

See below at this blog for info on previous sessions.

To sign up or for further questions, just contact Tom at:

Bournemarimbas@gmail.com

Upcoming Marimba Building Workshop - July 26-28

A marimba for sale will be made in each workshop. The marimba buyer receives one attendance at the workshop as part of the regular selling price. Buy a marimba of your choice and your attendee can learn to build you more!

Additional attendees (limit 7) pay $300 for the 3 day workshop. 

=========================================

July 26- July 28 (Fri - Sun) - Instrument of your choice available for sale

=============================================

This workshop format is working out real well! Teachers get a marimba and a new local builder. Many other attendees are building marimbas and some are even going into the business. 

       

Chris and Lauren Borodenko (Intnl. school teachers) and Les Dykema (music teacher, Dickinson, ND)
with a beautiful tenor marimba, built during our 3 day workshop in July 2017

Weekend class with marimba builder Tom Bourne

Where: Bourne Marimbas in Bellingham, Washington USA

Cost: $300, one free attendance with the purchase of the instrument we build.

As with our previous classes, we will build a complete marimba from start to finish.

Learn everything you need to know about building marimbas for your local school or marimba band. Since 1995, Tom Bourne has built over 1500 marimbas of all sizes for schools and invites you to his shop to share his knowledge.

Bellingham, Washington is located just south of the Canadian border between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. It is near all kinds of great activities on the water and in the mountains. Bellingham has a modern airport with direct flights to Denver, Las Vegas and other cities in the western USA.

This class is suitable for adults and teens who can use, or are willing to learn to use, a few basic power tools and hand tools safely. 

I can provide suggestions in procuring lodging in Bellingham, many options available.

Class limited to 7.

See below at this blog for info on previous sessions.

To sign up or for further questions, contact Tom at:

Bournemarimbas@gmail.com

Go With The Flow!

I love flow charts and have created one to represent my process of building a soprano marimba.

This flow chart would be a fun thing to track as one watches my video "Crafting Your Marimba" which was made for me by Isiah Corey and is now approaching 275,000 views on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdzlwJQQcDg

Upcoming Marimba Building Workshop

None scheduled at the moment. Want to buy a marimba? If you can send one person to my 3 day workshop (free for yourself or someone you designate), we'll build it for you.  See below for details, feel free to contact me. Let's set a date!

Here's Katherine, Frank, Ben, Allison, (me), Josh, Rich and DJ with the baritone we built in my recent 3 day workshop.

Upcoming Marimba Building Workshop

September 29 to October 1 (Saturday to Monday)

and

October 26 to 28 (Friday to Sunday)

Music teachers Paul Corbierre and Charlene Sutton sand and route Paul's new baritone.

Charlene Sutton executes an initial tuning cut on a baritone bar.

A marimba for sale will be made in each workshop. The marimba buyer receives one attendance at the workshop as part of the regular selling price. Buy a marimba of your choice and your attendee can learn to build you more!

In this September workshop we will build a bass marimba for Eagle Creek Elementary School in Arlington, WA.

Additional attendees (limit 7) pay $250 for the 3 day workshop. 

This workshop format is working out real well! Teachers get a marimba and a new local builder. Many other attendees are building marimbas and some are even going into the business. 

Interested in attending? Contact me (Tom) at bournemarimbas@gmail.com

Upcoming Marimba Building Workshops - Summer, 2018

A marimba for sale will be made in each workshop. The marimba buyer receives one attendance at the workshop as part of the regular selling price. Buy a marimba of your choice and your attendee can learn to build you more!

Additional attendees (limit 7) pay $250 for the 3 day workshop. 

=========================================

June 29- July 1 (Fri - Sun) - Instrument of your choice available for sale

August 2-4 (Thur - Sat) - We'll build a Baritone destined for Iowa

=============================================

This workshop format is working out real well! Teachers get a marimba and a new local builder. Many other attendees are building marimbas and some are even going into the business. 

       

Chris and Lauren Borodenko (Intnl. school teachers) and Les Dykema (music teacher, Dickinson, ND)
with a beautiful tenor marimba, built during our 3 day workshop in July 2017

Weekend class with marimba builder Tom Bourne

Where: Bourne Marimbas in Bellingham, Washington USA

Cost: $250, one free attendance with the purchase of the instrument we build.

As with our previous classes, we will build a complete marimba from start to finish.

Learn everything you need to know about building marimbas for your local school or marimba band. Since 1995, Tom Bourne has built over 1500 marimbas of all sizes for schools and invites you to his shop to share his knowledge.

Bellingham, Washington is located just south of the Canadian border between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. It is near all kinds of great activities on the water and in the mountains. Bellingham has a modern airport with direct flights to Denver, Las Vegas and other cities in the western USA.

This class is suitable for adults and teens who can use, or are willing to learn to use, a few basic power tools and hand tools safely. 

I can provide suggestions in procuring lodging in Bellingham, many options available.

Class limited to 7.

See below at this blog for info on previous sessions.

To sign up or for further questions, contact Tom at:

Bournemarimbas@gmail.com

New marimba builders!

http://tukituki-instruments.com

The world now has 2 NEW marimba builders! Meet Juel and Tanya Iwaasa, two delightful and skilled music educators from Wenatchee, Washington.

For April's 3-day weekend marimba building workshop we completed a 2 octave Alto marimba (now for sale) and a standard Minnie M for Tanya to take home. A very productive weekend!

Juel and Tanya Iwaasa, Minnie M, Alto

The world now has seven more marimba builders! We had a great workshop last weekend and were super productive, building 2 full marimbas that will be going to a local school in need.

One more summer workshop coming up this weekend, with a couple spots still available if you want to cool off in Bellingham, WA.

with Roger, Holly, Keith, Maria, Jordan, Frank and Kristy

We purposely made the low-riding soprano with a mish-mash of different wood pieces found in my shop - cherry, padauk, purpleheart, mahoganies... With buzzers, it sounds very consistent across the scale - as good a sound as any soprano I've made. And fully integrated, you could say.

A Note to Customers

I have decided to stop booking orders for the foreseeable future. 

I simply have too many (very patient!) customers backordered for too long on a timetable that, due to my health issues, is too uncertain. My goal right now is to take a few months and clear through the backorders, then assess where I'm at physically, monetarily etc. 

One thing I will continue to do is offer the 3 day building workshops to get more folks building, and taking that event on the road for workshop visitations. That's what's really needed right now - more builders! I'm offering two workshops this summer in Bellingham: on the weekends of July 21 and July 28. (filling fast!)

Thanks for your support - current customers should know that any orders I have on my calendar are still in my plans.

For new orders, here are 4 fine builders in the Northwest I can recommend. These marimba makers all have many instruments in the schools and communities. Check them out and give them a contact!

Mark Burdon at:

http://markburdonwoodcraft.com/

Byron Wylie at:

http://www.zionmarimba.com/

Eric Orem at

http://www.padaukdust.com/

Peter Bush at:

http://www.rosebushmarimba.com/

And as always, Tom's Mallets are available through West Music!

Tom  Bourne

See what Custer Elementary School is up to with our Workshop marimbas!

Thanks to Grace Smith of Custer Elementary School in Ferndale, WA for submitting, 

and for your good work here!

For Sale Now!

For Sale Now

Sorry, currently nothing is available for sale!

Big Bass Tilted

I've built a few of these tilting big basses over the years.



Note how the resonator tubes are situated higher above the frame to bring them closer to the slanted bars. You can scallop off the rim of a tube if you want to get it closer yet to the bar, long as you get the tube's tuning right. And now, with those tubes raised to capture the good vibrations, there's space below the longest tube to lower the instrument a few inches, such that....



..... one may not need a riser to play! I'd say this is still kind of high for anyone under maybe 5' 10" altitude, but now you can use a lower riser. Lower center of gravity for the entire instrument makes it a solid, moveable unit.

It's kind of a challenge to get all the dimensions, and of course an additional rail for the raised back end must be fabricated and attached:



But the biggest challenge for me: How to play those bars with requisite enthusiasm without bonking them off the instrument? No problem with the traditional system of suspending cord threaded through a hole drilled into the bar. But my system of suspending bars on a hefty cord and restraining them with a lighter gauge cord (which allows for bar removal and swapping in F# and Bb bars) isn't enough to counter gravity here. Solution required...



... and here it is. A patch of rubber screwed over the bar channels. Now the bar will stay in place. As with all big instruments, resting the bars on a bed of foam (snake insulation available in hardware stores) minimizes cord wear and tear.



The jury was out as to whether this radically tilted design could stand extended use. But the customer really likes it and after several years there are no complaints.