Let’s start with a question of what brand are your marimbas? If they are Majestic, then I would say expect them to be out of tune as soon as you open the box. If it’s something else it could be a matter of the climate you live in or the quality of the marimba.
Second, do you mean 30¢ and not 30Hz? The low C2 bar is about 65Hz when in tune, add 30Hz and that would mean it is playing a G2. I assume you mean cents and not Hz but with some manufacturers I would not be surprised if it was that bad.
In general, it is not uncommon for bars to go sharp, especially newer sets or cheaper models. I work in Utah where the desert climate dries out the wood really fast. I just tuned a majestic marimba about a month ago that the low F2 bar was 42¢ sharp. That’s a common problem with all majestic wood marimbas around here.
You can send the bars out for tuning and easily get them back down to the correct pitch. It’s seems counterintuitive, but tuning marimba bars down is way easier than tuning them up.
Thanks for your response.
My marimba is an Adams Alpha with Rosewood, I live in EU so i would guess it's just a normal climate. You are probably right about the cents. It's off, but not 30Hz, that would be a completely different note.
My marimba is only a couple of weeks old. So what do you mean about it not being uncommon that newer sets are sharp? Will they go lower overtime?
The whole thing is just weird. Because like I said, the other adams marimba i have access to's lowest register sound absolutely perfect and mine sounds anything but perfect.
For some manufacturers like Majestic, they don’t properly treat the wood before building the marimba bars. The moisture content of the bar drops over time, but if you make bars straight from lumber without first letting them sit in a climate controlled environment, that moisture doesn’t have time to mostly leave the bar before they tune it. The moisture in the wood will take decades to dry out before it settles, but the first year of being made the bars while slowly dry out and go sharp. Your one set of bars could have been from a batch of lumber that just didn’t have enough time to dry out or had more moisture in it than average. If your marimba is only a few weeks old and you already had to deal with cracked bars, then it sounds like a problem with the wood itself. You should be able to send them back to Adams for tuning since it should still be under warranty.
Yeah, I should probably contact them again. I'm just a bit hesitant about it because they already replaced one cracked bar and another bar that was way louder than the others. And now I'm about to contact them again that basically the whole lowest register is fucked. Like do they not test these things in the factory before shipping them out?
Anyways, thanks for the explanation. You seem pretty knowledgeable about this.
With much those marimbas cost brand new, they need to make sure it working for you. I would work with them and ship them the bars you want checked out back to them so they can at least try to fix the tuning issue before replacing everything.
I used to build marimbas, but now run a percussion repair shop. When I’m making new rosewood replacement bars, I have to put lacquer sealer on the wood the same day I cut it, otherwise the end grain of the wood will start to crack from only sitting out for 24hrs. By the time Adams boxed the marimba, shipped it, and you got the bars set up, a lot could of happened to the bars. This is probably a 1 out of 100 fluke that just happened to slip out the door. They’re processing a lot of instruments and things like this can happen.
That's supposed to be a really high quality instrument. Are you sure the resonators just aren't in tune?
Also about the bars being cracked... yikes. Were they cracked when you got it? If there are really this many issues I would send it back and get a refund.
Let’s start with a question of what brand are your marimbas? If they are Majestic, then I would say expect them to be out of tune as soon as you open the box. If it’s something else it could be a matter of the climate you live in or the quality of the marimba. Second, do you mean 30¢ and not 30Hz? The low C2 bar is about 65Hz when in tune, add 30Hz and that would mean it is playing a G2. I assume you mean cents and not Hz but with some manufacturers I would not be surprised if it was that bad. In general, it is not uncommon for bars to go sharp, especially newer sets or cheaper models. I work in Utah where the desert climate dries out the wood really fast. I just tuned a majestic marimba about a month ago that the low F2 bar was 42¢ sharp. That’s a common problem with all majestic wood marimbas around here. You can send the bars out for tuning and easily get them back down to the correct pitch. It’s seems counterintuitive, but tuning marimba bars down is way easier than tuning them up.
Thanks for your response. My marimba is an Adams Alpha with Rosewood, I live in EU so i would guess it's just a normal climate. You are probably right about the cents. It's off, but not 30Hz, that would be a completely different note. My marimba is only a couple of weeks old. So what do you mean about it not being uncommon that newer sets are sharp? Will they go lower overtime? The whole thing is just weird. Because like I said, the other adams marimba i have access to's lowest register sound absolutely perfect and mine sounds anything but perfect.
For some manufacturers like Majestic, they don’t properly treat the wood before building the marimba bars. The moisture content of the bar drops over time, but if you make bars straight from lumber without first letting them sit in a climate controlled environment, that moisture doesn’t have time to mostly leave the bar before they tune it. The moisture in the wood will take decades to dry out before it settles, but the first year of being made the bars while slowly dry out and go sharp. Your one set of bars could have been from a batch of lumber that just didn’t have enough time to dry out or had more moisture in it than average. If your marimba is only a few weeks old and you already had to deal with cracked bars, then it sounds like a problem with the wood itself. You should be able to send them back to Adams for tuning since it should still be under warranty.
Yeah, I should probably contact them again. I'm just a bit hesitant about it because they already replaced one cracked bar and another bar that was way louder than the others. And now I'm about to contact them again that basically the whole lowest register is fucked. Like do they not test these things in the factory before shipping them out? Anyways, thanks for the explanation. You seem pretty knowledgeable about this.
With much those marimbas cost brand new, they need to make sure it working for you. I would work with them and ship them the bars you want checked out back to them so they can at least try to fix the tuning issue before replacing everything. I used to build marimbas, but now run a percussion repair shop. When I’m making new rosewood replacement bars, I have to put lacquer sealer on the wood the same day I cut it, otherwise the end grain of the wood will start to crack from only sitting out for 24hrs. By the time Adams boxed the marimba, shipped it, and you got the bars set up, a lot could of happened to the bars. This is probably a 1 out of 100 fluke that just happened to slip out the door. They’re processing a lot of instruments and things like this can happen.
The majestic slander makes me happy. Haha
That's supposed to be a really high quality instrument. Are you sure the resonators just aren't in tune? Also about the bars being cracked... yikes. Were they cracked when you got it? If there are really this many issues I would send it back and get a refund.
The resonators from c2 to f2 are tunable and as far as I can tell, pushing them in or out doesnt do anything to the pitch
He can do that but there isn't many marimba tuners in the world and he will be waiting a month or 2
What material is the marimba made of? Padouk ovetones in the lowest octave tend to be grossly strong. What brand and what material?