I bought this vibraphone for $750 (shipped) thinking it would be a great project with minimal work. I was wrong! It came with three wheels, bent eyelets holding up the keys (barely), and a felt damper so old it was crumbling. I replaced the eyelets with new pins from Salazar Fine Tuning - John Salazar is a great guy to work with! The felt bar was replaced with thicker, softer felt and I also replaced the (working) single speed motor with a restored variable speed from the M-55 project. I had to build a new controller box and make it removable so that the frame could still fold up to be transported. This was not as easy as it sounds - I had to make custom brackets out of aluminum stock and drill large holes into the frame. I put four new wheels on and this vibraphone looks as nice as it sounds!
 Vibraphone after unpacking it. |
 Notice the missing wheel, bottom right. |
 Old mercury switch and felt damper. |
 Dented resonator and dirty chrome frame. |
 Cleaned up and four new wheels! |
 A nice solid brass mallet holder. |
 Motor controller box I built. Note the plug. |
 It is removable so the frame can fold up. |
 Restored Bodine Motor. |
 Nice Mother of Pearl finish. |
 New felt damper bar and key pins. |
 Front view. |