Jun 4 2008
Marimba One, based in Arcata, California, makes hand-crafted marimbas, blending the warmth of Honduran rosewood with the precision of aluminium tube resonators.
The result is sweet music.
The marimba is in the percussion family. Its keys (or bars), which are arranged like those of a piano, are struck with mallets to produce a musical tone. Part of the key to the marimba's rich sound is its resonators.
Aluminium tubes
These resonators are metal tubes that hang below each bar. The length of each resonators varies according to the frequency that the bar produces. Vibrations from the bars resonate as they pass through the tubes, which amplify the tone.
Hydro provides drawn tubing for the resonators, which must adhere to specified tolerances. All resonators are individually hand-tuned.
Because small gradations in tubing diameter have an impact on the sound, we use 13 different sizes of round and oval tubing on the 5-octave marimbas. This is why dimensional tolerances are critical.
Lightweight frames
The instrument’s frames are also made from drawn tubing, which provides torsional strength yet is light in weight.
Founded in 1983 by Ron Samuels, an innovator of voiced marimba keyboards, Marimba One has been a customer of Hydro since August 2006.