British Vibraphonette Sold For Mucho Dinero

I saw a vibraphonette for sale on ebay over in the UK not too long ago. I checked back when the auction was over and the winning bid was 1,072.50 pounds! Whoa! I mean, 1,072.50 is a good chunk of change in dollars, but when you convert it, it turns out to be $2152.18!! I guess things are just more expensive across the pond. (gas, computers, vibraphonettes...)

This particular vibraphonette came with what seems to be a pad, or cushion with the Galanti logo on it that covers the bells(see picture). Pretty fancy! I imagine it is original. I have piece of t-shirt covered foam to serve the same purpose. Overall, the vibraphonette seems like it is in great shape.

Congrats to the new owner!

Squeaks and Rattles

I hopped on over to Looking Glass Studios to record with Catherine McRae last weekend. A very nice experience at a great studio. The whole session I had been dealing with rattles from those black spacers/support rings that have hardened up over the years. They are also very brittle and have broken off during transportation before I figured out how to orient the instrument to help prevent more breakage. The vibraphonette had a very strong role in a quiet song called Pentacostal. I had been putting gaffing tape on the black spacer supports to help with the rattles, but now there was also a squeak when I stepped on the damper pedal. Everyone said it was fine, but I decided to try one thing. While Catherine sang some vocals on another song, I took off the top and applied some WD40 on the spring. It worked like a charm!

Bruce Cawdron is also in the picture. He plays a bunch of instruments - here he's playing bass marimba. It really sounded great!

Click here for more pictures of the session.

I can't wait to hear what we recorded!