dennis & the vibraphonette

Sunday, September 16, 2007

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!

posted by dennis at 3:24 PM

7 Comments:

  • Hi Dennis,

    I've been following your blogspot for a couple of years, fond as I am of vintage great-sounding good-looking instruments. And since tonight I am actually the proud owner of a beautifully maintained Vibraphonette in top shape myself!

    And what a beauty it is. I can't wait to use it in my band (a sort of singer-songwriter-indie-band, think Sufjan Stevens and Thomas Dybdahl) and in the studio.

    BTW: if you experience any trouble with the hardened bits of rubber: couldn't you just purchase the inner tire for a bicycle & cut that up and use those bits of rubber? It's what I usually do when I need bits of rubber for various purposes... but hey, plenty of bikes here in Holland, of course.

    Oh yeah, I paid 1050 € for my Vibraphonette, which is not too bad, considering that the last one I considered buying eventually got sold on Ebay Germany for a whopping 1730 € - without the belts! Whereas the belt on mine is in pristine condition & the motor hardly makes a sound. Great little thing!

    Cheers from the Netherlands,

    Sergej

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:49 PM  

  • hello sergej,

    thanks so much for getting in touch. could you send over some pictures of your vibraphonette so i can post them on the blog? and thanks for the tip!

    dennis

    By Blogger dennis, at 9:44 PM  

  • Hi Dennis,

    I believe my Vibraphonette is the one you have already referred to earlier. It used to belong to Will.

    I'm going to clean it up so it'll look its very best for the pics.

    Until then,

    Cheers!
    *sergej

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:50 AM  

  • Ahhh yes,

    I foud out I've got the slightly bigger version. Starts at C, goes to F. Different tone bars, I believe they're not aluminium but some steel / chromium alloy perhaps. Big tone.

    And... it's got a slider for motor speed. Ranging form quite slow to pretty fast. I'll see if I can post some audio / video soon.

    I weighed it yesterday & it's 26 kilos, that would be errrr about 55 lbs. (Not a biggie for me... my Wurli in its case is about 110 pounds & my vintage solina string synthesizer in its case a bit more than 85 pounds. And we're not even discussing hammonds and leslies...)

    Oh yeah... can I take the tone bars off? For cleaning underneath? If yes, how?

    Cheers,

    *sergej

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:44 AM  

  • Hi Dennis,
    Could you please tell me what address to send the pics of my vibraphonette to?
    I made a short film of my vibraphonette. Go to Youtube and search for "vibraphonette"- you'll find your own song plus movie, and my little demo. Enjoy.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:04 PM  

  • I have a Vibraphonette in good working order, but the Tolex cover is a bit dirty. I'm considering selling it... if anyone is interested please contact me through my myspace page:

    myspace dot com/josephpettini

    I'm in Minneapolis.

    Would prefer it went to someone that will love and play it. Pix on request.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:22 PM  

  • This was my vibraphonette! It's funny to come across it now. I couldn't quite believe how much it sold for in the end because I'd bought it not long before for about £250 (including shipping from Italy). Oh well. I put the money into buying a Deagan Aurora so I'm not complaining!

    By Blogger Unknown, at 11:40 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home