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

Cordage Mysteries Revealed!

How do you replace or adjust worn out cordage?

Wonder no more! This series of videos pulls the veil on this enduring mystery. Now at last, you can replace that welter of makeshift knottage that over the years has accumulated with a couple simple tie-offs.

 Introduction

Under the Hood

Installing the Low (suspending) Cord

Tying off the Low Cord

Installing the Top (restraining) Cord

Installing the Bars

Removing the Slack

 Tying Off the Top Cord

Walnut It Is!

 

 I just finished two Minnie M's with bars made of Oregon Black Walnut, which is a variety of Claro Walnut. Sounds great! So I am moving full steam ahead with this source of Walnut as the replacement for padauk in my higher range tone bars.

• This walnut all comes from the Willamette Valley in Oregon, USA.
• It is all "urban salvage" - not the result of any sort of clearcutting or overcutting.
• It actually costs me a little more than African padauk, in part because the persons cutting and milling the wood are getting American wages. Walnut is  considered by woodworkers to be a premium wood and is priced accordingly.
• The sound is every bit as strong as padauk, but not as ringy. Definitely more "ethnic" or "folk" in its sound and definitely not as "European" in the way that orchestral marimbas are. That's fine with me, given the music most folks play on these instruments.

Welcome to Walnut

Due to a current shortage of padauk I am switching to walnut as the tone wood for my soprano instruments. Whatever the long term availability of padauk may be, my goal is to replace tone woods harvested from the shrinking rain forests with tone wood harvested domestically.

Does walnut sound as good as good ol' padauk? Let me share with you this sound recording of Patricia Bourne's school marimba group performing on marimbas outfitted with, firstly, padauk bars and, secondly, walnut bars. Have a listen and tell me what you think. Also available, with more readable text, at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCyJyLZoX1o

Of course sound recordings never quite capture the live experience but I would be very interested to learn what reaction registers in that space between your two finely attuned ears.

FYI this tune is a choral accompaniment that Patty Bourne arranged for her elementary school kids.

Any impressions of Walnut vs. Padauk?

A Customer Asks:

Music teacher Marybeth Norby asks:
"Walla Walla (WA) is very hot and dry.  My marimba bars, especially the Aussies, are looking very dry.  Is there an oil that I can put on them to keep them moisturized but won't change the pitch?"

Answer: Absolutely, you can re-oil your bars if they are getting dingy or dry looking. Of course this applies to the entire instrument, but in regards to the bars, I would not overdo it - for instance don't be oiling the bars every year or something. I have heard theories about over-oiling affecting the tone, and I am skeptical, but really the wood is pretty durable oiled or not, so I would just put on the least amount you would need to re-vitalize it. Before doing that you should wipe the bars clean with a very slightly damp rag, just to get the accumulated muck off.

Tung oil, Danish oil, Teak oil, any variety will work, but I would rub it on with a rag, don't be flooding the bar surface with oil.

As far as all the things that might change the bar pitch, this is probably pretty low on the list, as long as you don't overdo it. Chances are if you've had an instrument for a few years, many of the bars are already slightly sharp or flat, and the effect of any added mass of oil would be noticed in terms of a cent or two, not a generally noticeable pitch change.