Yes.


Yes.


Yes.


Yes.


Yes.

Oops, sorry I got into a bit of a rut there.  

For some reason, mallet instrument manufacturers have decided that A=442 is THE way to go for their "standard" tuning.  I think it has to do with orchestras in Europe cranking up their basic starting pitch to A=442, and then having American colleges and universities (the buyers of most of the instruments produced by these manufacturers, at least in terms of the US market) jump on the 442 bandwagon.

Of course, for us gigging vibists, who deal with pianos tuned to A=440, synths tuned to A=440, and bassists and guitarists who still generally tune to A=440, that leaves us out in the cold:  either special order A=440 bars (which can take six months), or ask the guitarists and bassists of the world to tune to 442 - which is fine, unless there's a pianist in the group.

Sometimes it's noticeable (unison lines with 440 piano and 442 vibes?  Yeesh!), sometimes not (when is the last time a horn player on your gig was in tune?), but still, we're getting the short end of the stick from manufacturers.  There's no reason why we should have to wait months longer to get a new instrument, or have to send the bars off to be retuned.  It's absurd, and it vexes me to no end.

...and I've got to go teach now, so I'm going to stop writing, because (as you can guess) there is an even longer version of this rant waiting to travel from my fingers into the keyboard into the computer...

6 months waiting time !! YIKES

I looked at the Falls Creek site - they show $45 an octave tuning (although I dont know if you can have a 442 retuned to 440)

can you ?

http://www.marimbas.com/tuning.html

Sounds like another argument for the Xylosynth or Malletkat

When i first saw the topic, i thought i was on a musclecar site.  Oh well, back to my meds.

Orchestras (Europe mostly) tune to A=442. Tuning the mallet instruments to that same standard only makes sense.

From what I understand ... A=442 gives a lift to the music. The strings are usually tuned to this standard ... hence the need to tune a mallet instrument, which can not be spontaneously tuned, to that same pitch.

I used to own a Deagan Xylophone, c. 1908, which was tuned to A=440, but when I had it re-tuned, they moved it to the A=442 standard. I was then able to loan (rent) the instrument to the St. Louis Symphony for a period of time while I was completely my classical studios.

As far as retuning DOWN to A=440 ... it's not an easy task. It's much easier to remove wood/metal from the keyboard's bar to raise the pitch, but shaving to lower the pitch takes a bit more doing. There also comes a point where you can not work with the bar further ... and it has to be replaced.

My Deagan Xylophone, which I have sold by the way, had it's Middle C replace for the reason I mentioned above. Century Mallet in Chicago couldn't tune it further, so they got into the Deagan vault and found another bar FROM THE SAME AGE WOOD (believe it or not) and replaced the problem bar. The new bar's color didn't match for awhile because it had been kept from the elements ... and it was originally from 1908 stock. Amazing.

Reasons why tuning to A442:

1. The standard pitch outside the US is A442. You can't use an A440 vibe outside the US.

2. Higher pitch does emphasize the vibe.

3. (the most important reason): The vibrato system pulls the pitch of the bar down. When the resonator is fully open, pitch of the resonator is equal to the bar. As soon as it starts closing, the pitch drops.

It is easy to lower pitch of the bar. Basically it's just removing material underneath at the right spot. DON'T DO THIS YOURSELF!!
Problem when raising pitch is that you need to remove material from the outer ends. When pitch only needs to raise a few cents (5cents at max), you can do with drilling a few holes on the bottom at the outer ends. However, when needing to raise more, the length has to be shortened. This means that the vibe bar needs to be re-anodized, and reanodizing means drop of pitch again.

BTW, by standard I am tuning my US vibes to A440, all other vibes to A442.  There is no longer waiting time (you have to wait a long time for my instruments anyway ;-) ) for alternative tunings.

Nico

PS Indeed there is a difference in stretch tuning for several instruments. My vibes are stretch tuned similar to a concert grand.

Depends on where you're located.
If you're in europe, it's done in 1-2 weeks.
When you're in the US, better send the bars to Fall Creek marimbas.
They also will take appr. 1-2 weeks.

Nico