photo of Bass Marimba
Fred Lyon
BASS MARIMBA

BUILT: 1950, near Gualala, California.
SIZE: 5 feet high (to the block level -- not including the music rack); 7.5 feet long. The longest block is 52 inches; the shortest 27 inches. The player stands on a riser 22 inches high.
MATERIALS: Resonators and frame are of redwood. The blocks are vertical-grain Sitka spruce, mounted on foam rubber.
TONES: Eleven blocks ranging from the low cello C to the B-flat below middle C (approximately). Played with a variety of heavy and light mallets, bare hands (as in bongo drumming), felted sticks on the edges of the ends, and wire cream whippers.

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