Reviewer: Matt Kussmaul
e-mail: kuz.boy@verizon.net
Date submitted: August 2, 2004
Purchase Price: $2000 (purchased used)
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Sound & Tone
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Rating:
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7
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Comments:
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The M31 is a Kelon instrument, so the tone is obviously inferior to wood bar marimbas, to begin with. The tone in most halls is what it would sound like if you can imagine a wooden vibraphone. That aside, the M31 is a very reliable instrument with consistent tone throughout the length of the instrument, although I find that the low end has especially nice warm sounding and easy to play. The upside to the Kelon is that it is open for a wide variety of mallets to be used on it. Vibraphone mallets can be used, produce a very bright sound, and will never damage the instrument. If you only need to play the low end, soft mallets will produce an even and extra-warm sound. The M31 projects very well (again, a product of the fact that the bars are made of resonant plastic), but can be played softly. The bars are very much in tune and in tune with itself. The plastic will never go out of tune, either.
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Design & Construction
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Rating:
| 10
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Comments:
| The frame is very solid. I am the third-hand user, I think, and the frame is still in excellent condition. The instrument is very easy to assemble and disassamble. It isn't very large, about the size of a xylophone, and is consists of whole pieces. It does not rattle, although with enough use any frame will probably rattle eventually. The M31 is height adjustable, but you have to adjust each leg individually, and it only moves about 8 inches. The casters are of excellent quality. I've rolled them over all sorts of things and never had a problem. The cord hasn't frayed yet, so I don't think it frays easily at all. There is very little extra noise from the frame when the instrument is played. The bars are of a standard width, NOT graduated. The material is Kelon, as I have stated before. The instrument transports very nicely because the legs fold up into the frame after the resonators have been removed and the whole frame can be carried as one piece, preferrably with the bars removed, also. The instrument is nearly indestructable.
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Appearance
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Rating:
| 8
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Comments:
| The frame is black, and the resonators are a dull silver-and-black, sort of speckled. The bars are purple, which is their dyed color, because Kelon is actually a very hideous shade of green, I believe. As a result it will actually tend to stain light colored mallet heads the color of the bars. I suppose it could be said that the short length of the instrument isn't very impressive for performance use, since the bars are thin and non-graduated.
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Customer Support
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Rating:
| n/a
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Comments:
| I've never had to deal with Musser over this instrument, because I have never had a problem which required me to do so. I have no idea what kind of customer support there is, since I bought it used from a personal friend.
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Overall Rating
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Rating:
| 8
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Comments:
| I am very happy with the use I have taken from the M31. I would not, however, buy the instrument again, because I think that upgrading to a marimba with wooden bars is eventually a must. Musser is a very reliable company, however, and I would certainly consider acquiring other instruments they produce. You can use this instrument in any genre that is suited for a 4-Octave instrument, and I think that it is a perfect instrument for students as first mallet instrument, as it was mine. I do not, however, think it functions very well for professionals that need the rosewood tone and a wider range. Public schools could make great use out of the M31, but universities have the need and the money for something a little more substantial.
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