My husband and I have decided to purchase a marimba for our middle-school aged percussionist. She's been playing bells (and snare) for 1 1/2 years and is a dedicated student. At our local university, the percussion professor has met with us and recommends we locate a 4 or 4 1/3 octave rosewood instrument.

We live in the Midwest and the predominant instrument here is the Musser brand. Musser seems good but we are also attracted to the Adams for two reasons. It is height adjustable. Second, it seems much more transportable than Musser or other brands.

Questions:

(1) Are the Adams Soloist and Artist instruments comparable in quality of sound to the comparable Musser?
(2) We have a minivan. The instrument will have to fit in a space no bigger than a 4x6 sheet of plywood when it gets transported. Those 6 bags of Adams are just resonators and bars, right? That still leaves the frame to stuff in. Will the Adams break down (six bags) small enough to go in a minivan? Will a Musser?
(3) Is there a penalty with Adams (easier to take apart means less stable / more prone to buzzes or other problems)?
(4) If we decide to go the USED instrument route, is eBay the best place to look? (We've lost 2 bids for Musser "Brentwood" model).
(5) Given we live in the Midwest, should we just get the Musser and be done with it? The schools, universities, and music camps around here all use Musser. I'm wondering how often a marimba breaks or needs tuning or stuff like that (yes, I'm just the ignorant parent). : )

Thanks, in advance, for whatever light you might shed on these questions.

- Kimberly

1) Are the Adams Soloist and Artist instruments comparable in quality of sound to the comparable Musser?

definately, I like the adams better actually. There is just something about the bars on M250s (the classic 4 1/3 model) that I just dont like.

(2) We have a minivan. The instrument will have to fit in a space no bigger than a 4x6 sheet of plywood when it gets transported. Those 6 bags of Adams are just resonators and bars, right? That still leaves the frame to stuff in. Will the Adams break down (six bags) small enough to go in a minivan? Will a Musser?

Every part of the marimba gets put into the bags. But either instrument breaks down enough to fit into that space.

(3) Is there a penalty with Adams (easier to take apart means less stable / more prone to buzzes or other problems)?

nope, in fact musser instruments seem to have more frame problems than adams in my experience.

4) If we decide to go the USED instrument route, is eBay the best place to look? (We've lost 2 bids for Musser "Brentwood" model).
check out the malletshop (www.malletshop.com) or check out the percussive arts sociert (www.pas.org) there are often people selling used instruments. You might also be able to contact the manufacturer and see if there are any refurbished instruments for sale.

(5) Given we live in the Midwest, should we just get the Musser and be done with it? The schools, universities, and music camps around here all use Musser. I'm wondering how often a marimba breaks or needs tuning or stuff like that (yes, I'm just the ignorant parent). : )

Personally I would recommend the adams instrument, they sound great, are very durable, easily transportable and height adjustable. Musser is good sound, pretty durable, pretty transportable and not height adjustable. Marimbas dont break too often and dont need tuning very often either. When it does need repair though, its very obvious (even to an "ignorant parent" =)) I think an Adams instrument is going to be your best bet.

Scott

In regard to Kimberly's original questions, the Adams 4.3 models (with rosewood bars, not paduk) will be at least comparable to Musser. At the top end, the Adams Artist series is superior to the Musser 250.

The Adams frame is both height adjustable and will break down into smaller pieces than the Musser. It all fits into the bags provided.

No penalty with Adams, although the Musser 250 is the most common instrument in USA schools, largely due to the past influence of the Ludwig Drum Co.

I would try www.malletshop.com and www.xylophonestore.com, in addition to eBay. The Musser Brentwood is a narrow-bar 4.0 model, OK for a beginner, but probably not for a more serious player.

Adams is distributed in the USA by Pearl Drums, based in Nashville, TN. All parts and tuning will be handled by them.

As a professional marimbist, I prefer Adams to Musser. However, at the entry level, the instruments are all about the same. I do recommend rosewood over other bar materials.

As mentioned elsewhere, the Adams Artist series does have the advantage of expanding later to the 5.0 range.

WM

Kimberly,
If you are not very familiar with mallet instruments I definitely would NOT recommend buying anything on Ebay.

Bill Youhass

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughtful and informative replies.

I wonder if we might turn your comparative analysis talents to YAMAHA vs. ADAMS.

At this point, we are leaning towards the Yamaha 4600A, 4 1/3, rosewood (model 4600A). It seems to us that Yamaha is the market leader, thereby providing high quality and good resale (should we ever choose to sell it). Like the Adams, it tears down into bags, is height adjustable, and is priced very close to Adams. The only advantage we can find for Adams is that it is later upgradable to 5 octaves. However, Adams charges a steep premium for this option ($5K), bringing the total instrument cost up to a price equivalent to a new 5-octave instrument.

Musser is history.

We will continue (for a bit) to find a used instrument from a reputable dealer but have pretty well given up on e-Bay due to our inability to verify the quality and soundness of the instrument before purchase ... easier to buy a used car on eBay : )

Thanks again.

- Kimberly