Editing Vibraphone (section)

=== Bars ===
[[File:Vibraphone bar.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|The underside of the low F{{sub|3}} bar is exposed, showing the tuning marks, a disc, and the pins and cord used to hold the bar.]]
Vibraphone bars are made from aluminum bar stock, cut into blanks of predetermined length. Holes are drilled through the width of the bars, so they can be suspended by a cord (typically [[parachute cord|paracord]]). To maximize the sustain of the bars, the holes are placed at approximately the nodal points of the bar (i.e., the points of minimum amplitude around which the bar vibrates). For a uniform bar, the nodal points are located 22.4% from each end of the bar.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Dayton C. |date=2006 |title=Tone Bars – Physics |url=https://physics.case.edu/about/history/antique-physics-instruments/tone-bars-2/ |access-date=15 March 2022 |publisher=[[Case Western Reserve University]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite conference |last=Worland |first=Randy |date=2011 |title=Experimental Study Of Vibraphone Pitch Bending Using Electronic Speckle-pattern Interferometry |journal=Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics |volume=12 |issue=1 |conference=Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics |location=Seattle, WA |page=2 |doi=10.1121/2.0000023 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Material is ground away from the underside of the bars in an arch shape to lower the pitch. This allows the lower-pitched bars to be a manageable length. It is also the key to the mellow sound of the vibraphone (and marimba, which uses the same deep arch) compared with the brighter [[xylophone]], which uses a shallower arch, and the glockenspiel, which has no arch at all. These rectangular bars have three primary modes of vibration.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moore |first=James L. |title=Acoustics of Bar Percussion Instruments |publisher=Per-Mus Publications |year=1978 |location=Columbus, OH |oclc=906308587}}</ref> The deep arch causes these modes to align and create a consonant arrangement of intervals: a fundamental pitch, a pitch two octaves above that, and a third pitch an octave and a major third above the second. For the F{{sub|3}} bar that usually forms the lowest note on a vibraphone, there would be F{{sub|3}} as the fundamental, F{{sub|5}} as the first [[Overtone#Musical usage term|overtone]], and A{{sub|6}} as the second overtone. As a side effect, the arch causes the nodal points of the fundamental vibration to shift closer towards the ends of the bar.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Beaton |first1=Douglas |last2=Scavone |first2=Gary |date=June 2021 |title=Three-dimensional tuning of idiophone bar modes via finite element analysis |url=https://asa.scitation.org/doi/10.1121/10.0005062 |journal=The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |volume=149 |issue=6 |pages=3758–3768 |doi=10.1121/10.0005062 |pmid=34241415 |bibcode=2021ASAJ..149.3758B |s2cid=235776759 |issn=0001-4966|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

After beveling or rounding the edges, fine-tuning adjustments are made. If a bar is flat, its overall pitch structure can be raised by removing material from the ends of the bar. Once this slightly sharp bar is created, the secondary and tertiary tones can be lowered by removing material from specific locations of the bar. Vibraphones are tuned to a standard of A&nbsp;=&nbsp;442&nbsp;Hz or A&nbsp;=&nbsp;440&nbsp;Hz, depending on the manufacturer or the customer's preference. While [[concert pitch]] is generally A&nbsp;=&nbsp;440&nbsp;Hz, the sharper tuning of A&nbsp;=&nbsp;442&nbsp;Hz is used to give the vibraphone a slightly brighter sound to cut through the ensemble.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Primatic |first=Stephen |title=Percussion Instruments: Purchasing, Maintenance, Troubleshooting & More |publisher=Meredith Music |others=Garwood Whaley |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-57463-451-8 |edition=1st |location=Delray Beach, FL |pages=32 |oclc=1091896031}}</ref>

Like marimbas, professional vibraphones have bars of graduated width. Lower bars are made from wider stock, and higher notes from narrower stock, to help balance volume and tone across the range of the instrument.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoffman |first=Stewart |title=The Band Teacher's Percussion Guide |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-19-046168-3 |location=New York, NY |pages=126 |oclc=950004306}}</ref> The bars are [[Anodizing|anodized]] after fine-tuning (typically in a silver or gold color) and may have a glossy or matte finish. These are cosmetic features with a negligible effect on the sound.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wollwage |first=Troy C. |date=4 June 2019 |title=Anatomy of a Vibraphone |url=https://hub.yamaha.com/drums/percussion/anatomy-of-a-vibraphone/ |publisher=[[Yamaha Corporation|Yamaha]]}}</ref>

The bed for the bars is made by laying down four wooden rails onto each end of the frame. Each rail has a series of pins with rubber spacers. As the cord passes through the holes of the bar, they rest on the pins to suspend the bars. On each outer side, the ends of the cord attach together with a spring to provide tension and flex.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Skidmore |first=David |date=2012 |title=Percussion 101 (Keyboard Percussion): Characteristics and Maintenance |url=https://vicfirth.zildjian.com/education/percussion-101-keyboard-percussion.html |website=[[Vic Firth]] |at=2:19 |type=video}}</ref>