Doug's Thoughts
| My goal, when I started the company in 1984, was to produce an instrument that was consistantly higher in quality than others being produced. I felt this was possible by using my trained musical ear, my deep respect for the instrument and for the materials used in its construction. Early on, people began to notice that my instruments looked, felt and sounded different. Since those early years, my skills as a builder have become much more honed, and my expectations have expanded as to what a great instrument can and should be. The following is a discussion of how I approach building and what you can expect as a customer when buying a DeMorrow Marimba. First and foremost is the wood used for the bars. I use Honduras Rosewood. This wood comes from only ONE relatively small region in Central America. It is the only known wood that is capable of producing the characteristic sound that we want, good clear pitch with a singing quality. Since, as with all natural resources, every piece of wood is not created equal, I grade the bars into different levels. These levels range from incredible power and ringtime to only usable. Each of the different "series" of instruments uses a particular "level" of bar. The "Artist Series" uses the absolute best I can find and the "Practice Series" uses the lowest level of bar I find usable. Everything that falls below "usable" gets turned into heat for my shop! Understand that the level of bar is not determined by its visual appearance, but only by how it sounds when I hold it in my hand and strike it with a mallet. Also, it is not uncommon for a single board of rosewood to produce all different levels of individual bars. More to come.... |
