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Best way to get rid of frame noise

JonTomaro 25 June 2015

Hi guys

I love my vibe very much (thanks tony Miceli)

But just wondering, I don't really know the best way to take care of frame noise. I am pretty new to this instrument and have spent more time practicing on it then figuring out all the ins and outs I should know.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks Jon Tomaro

Comments

tonymiceli Thu, 06/25/2015 - 17:43

the musser makes frame noise.

first for the light weight and portability it can be a little flimsy. i used ductape for parts.

NEXT - soft sticks make a lot more noise, ESPECIALLY if you hit on the edges of the bars. is that the problem, the thud? use harder bars of play only on the middles (i wouldn't want to do that).

tonymiceli Thu, 07/02/2015 - 17:10

right because you're pressing the pedal down and hitting the note.

i bet it doesn't make the noise if you hit in the middle of the bars away from the damper bar. and to make it better use a hard mallet. you should have no noise hitting in the middle.

let me know how that works out.

IndianaGlen Thu, 07/02/2015 - 12:59

One of the ironies of a vibraphone is that it's meant to amplify and transmit sound. Let's face it, the instrument likes to make sounds, so the challenge is to amplify the sounds you want. Below are some thoughts off of the top of my head:

1) Mentally divide the vibe into four regions where unwanted noise can come from: Damper, Frame, Resonators, Bars. in my experience this is the order of highest to lowest likelihood of unwanted noise.

Quick damper test:
Hit every bar without touching the damper. If you hear noise try to gently press just enough to almost get to the point of moving the felt away from the bars and try again. If the noise starts or stops that can go a long way to troubleshooting the problem.

Put your foot underneath the damper petal and GENTLY raise up a little see if it changes. if it does it's likely the linkage.

Push the damper all the way down and play. If the noise continues, it's probably not the damper (but still could be)

Frame:
Have someone gently push (and/or lift up) one side of the frame a little as you are playing fairly hard.. does it go away, or change?

Resonators:
Take them out and see if the problem goes away. Push them or pull on them to see if it changes\goes away.

Bars:
more easy, find the one that makes noise push it from side to side to see if the noise goes away.

Sometimes all logic fails, sometimes it's more than one thing causing the noise.

Randy_Sutin Sat, 07/04/2015 - 12:45

In my experience, damper bar noise usually comes from one of two sources.

- the nut under the spring used to adjust its tension is too loose or the secondary nut that locks it is missing. If it is loose, tighten it. If the second nut is missing, replace it.

- The hinge itself has worn and become a bit loose. If that is the case remove the ends of the damper bar from the hinge, wrap them in several layers of plumber's Teflon tape. Should do the trick.

The other noises you can make with a damper bar are squeaking (Teflon tape in hinge fixes that) and the click or thud if you press it down too far and the side hits the frame or motor (just don't do that, or if you can't help it, put a couple of layers of moleskin on the bottom of the bar to pad it.)

Best of luck.

Randy_Sutin Sat, 07/04/2015 - 12:54

No doubt... It is the Musser. You won't have that with any mallet on your Omega.

The soft mallets do make it worse. I suspect that a Deagan or a Yamaha have similar issues... It has only been engineered out of the Malletech.

That said, yes, I will bring some Teflon tape and demonstrate for you.

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