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take care of your lovely instrument

Forum Topic: "Black Keys" higher than "White Keys" on M48

Hey my fellow vibraphonists, I am wondering if anyone has had this problem before:
The damper bar on my Musser M-48 dampens the white keys sooner than the black keys when I use it. The result is an uneven feel, which presents more difficulty trying to play the instrument to make the subtleties stand out. (i.e. dampening, expression etc.) I have tried placing pennies under the two cross- planks that hold the white keys, but have found that this makes things more uneven horizontally (mid-range keys will dampen sooner than high and low ends).

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Forum Topic: Bars have black marks

I borrowed the schools vibraphone this summer. I've had it for two months. It did not have a cover and was in my back garage but I dusted it every other day. I've been playing it off and on all summer but I have to take it back next week and I noticed that all the keys are covered in black marks. I'm guessing that these were already scratched and gouged and that the black developed inside of them. Not all of the scratches have black. And I can't tell if all of the black marks were actually scratches.

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Forum Topic: Breaking down and setting up M55

I recently purchased an M55G (based on advice from this site - thanks) and am planning to do my first gig with it in a couple months. Does anyone have any instructions, advice, tips for breaking down and setting up this instrument for a gig?

Are there any videos online showing how to do this? I've seen the one on this site for a different vibe. I assume the process would be similar.

I'm going to hold off on buying the $500-$750 bags for it unless/until I gig with it more regularly.

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Forum Topic: Has anyone been playing Premier vibes for 70 or 80 years?

Hi everyone, yes I'm a new member and so glad I found your fantastic site. You've guessed it, I desperately need some advice on my first vibes. About two months ago, having looked for a vibraphone for a long time, I found an old instrument (I love old) that was 'spares or repair'.
Now, I am quite musical and for the last thirty years have been a mechanical and electronics engineer - I have worked with woods a little also. You will understand that I thought restoring such a thing would be easy.

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Forum Topic: Fixing Up Old Vibraphone

I acquired a Yamaha YV-1600 that seems to have been stored in a rather dusty and humid environment. I just finished cleaning it completely, getting crud out of the resonators and using about a hundred Q-Tips to get all the dirt out of every crevice.

The good news is that I was able to give it a complete inspection and there is little to no damage. Everything is intact and I don't need to locate any replacement parts.

The bad news is that the motor doesn't work and the felt on the damping bar is pretty messed, so I have a few questions:

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