Deagan Piano-Vibraharp
By Beatrice Robertson
I have another rather obscure bit of Deagan information. An MBSI member in the Southeast owns a fine sounding machine billed as "the World's Only Piano-Vibraharp." Quoting from the insert in a tape of this machine: "The Deagan Piano-Vibraharp is neither a piano nor a vibraharp. Named by its inventor, J.C. Deagan, his company made six of these instruments in 1921.
Months of research by the present owners and the parent company has determined that this instrument is not only the last to exist in the world today, but was the original prototype.
The vibraharp is mounted vertically in a special upright piano case. It is played by a standard keyboard. This allows any number of bars to be struck at one time rather than only four by the normal vibraharpists, The unique vibrato effect is obtained by a motor driven shutter or butterfly valve in the mouth of each resonator tube.
Purchased in 1981 by (the late) Mason W. Pace and Robert V. Edwards of Miami, the instrument was in choice restorable condition, commonly called a "basket case." However, all of the 59 bars and resonators were present. Enough other parts were available so that replacements could be made. More than 600 man hours were required in restoration."
If anyone is interested, tapes of this machine are available from Bob Edwards, and he probably is quite knowledgeable about Deagan, since he did a great deal of research on the company and this machine.
Beatrice Robertson
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(Message sent Mon 26 Feb 1996, 11:49:17 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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