The Finished Product

I officially finished building the vibraphone on February 1, 2016. Nine months since I started, or at least since I picked it back up in May 2015. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started. I wish I logged all the hours I put into this, but there's too many to even begin to make a guess. It's a very rewarding feeling to just look back on something you made yourself. By no means is it perfect because there were many mistakes along the way, but I feel very satisfied with it nonetheless. I'll be uploading videos later to show how everything sounds.

After completion, the grand total cost for the vibraphone is $949.10, which includes the cost of tools I had to buy. If you subtract the cost of tools, the cost of materials to build the vibraphone is $647.99. This is pretty amazing because a brand new, manufactured vibraphone (Adams, Yamaha) will cost anywhere from $3,500 - $8,000. If you're interested, I uploaded a spreadsheet showing the cost of each item and all the subtotals.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-4XWjs0sBQiWk4wT0dCS284WFU/view?usp=sharing

I would like to thank Jim McCarthy who runs the website www.makeamarimba.com. There you can purchase very detailed instruction manuals on how to build your own marimba, vibraphone, or glockenspiel. I based my design partly on his plans and partly on my own. But they were a HUGE help to have. I would also like to thank my parents for allowing me to take up half the garage at their house even after I moved out. Also for all the tools my dad had on hand that I didn't have to buy.

Thanks for reading my blog. If you have any questions or comments please leave a comment or email me at conn210@gmail.com

But anyways, here's some pictures. (I have no training in photography whatsoever.)

(click for higher resolution)