Reviewer: Ruud Everts
e-mail: ruudeverts@hotmail.com
Date submitted: September 27, 2004
Purchase Price: €600,-
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Sound & Tone
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Rating:
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10
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Comments:
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The instrument sounds amazing. Eventhough it is very old, it still is in tune. It has that typical old sound of the earliest vibraphones that for example Lionel Hampton used. The bars respond immediately and have a very full tone. You can play very soft as well as very loud without the sound getting ugly.
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Design & Construction
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Rating:
| 9
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Comments:
| The frame is suprisingly solid but still brakes down in about 5 minutes and is fairly light. Vibraphone builders today can learn a lot from these old instrument designers! The motor is an old electronic motor with adjustable speed I have never seen on vibraphones. The range goes from hardly moving to invisible to see. However, the motor does make a lot of noise, but that also has its charmes because it sounds like an old motor, not like an irritating noise. When you play with the motor at top speed for a while, you start smelling it ( a very nice smell, though ) which makes it all quite an experience. The pedal works fine and I managed to make it work without any unwanted sounds. Long live WD40!
Alltogether, the frame is very solid, made of strong metal and does not make sound when you play the instrument. It brakes down in minutes. The instrument has lived already for a long time and has proven to be very durable.
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Appearance
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Rating:
| 8
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Comments:
| It looks great (for its years) There is slight wear on the resonators but the sides of the instrument are still in exellent condition. and made of dark wood. there is an almost invisible L&S logo on the side, engraved in the wood. The bars are beautiful and shiny, and I am very happy with the general looks of the instrument
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Customer Support
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Rating:
| no opinion
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Comments:
| The designers are all dead and L&S stopped existing in 1939. |
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Overall Rating
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Rating:
| 10
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Comments:
| I am generally very happy with the instrument. Of course it is a particular sound and is probably not suitable for everyone, but the oldness of the sound really got me. I prefer these old vibraphones over modern vibraphones eventhough new ones have advantages. It is like an old car - it has personality.
If I could find another one of these I would probably buy it on the spot.
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