Liberty One 3.5 Octave Rosewood Portable Xylophone

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I ordered this as a student rental, but it's also really suitable for professionals who need a portable xylophone. As other reviews mentioned, the lack of resonators change the sound a bit, but the portability more than makes up for it - and let's be honest, most audiences wouldn't know the difference. One issue worth knowing (and why I gave it 4 out of 5): my instrument came with a free pair of brass mallets, which are completely inappropriate to the instrument and will damage the rosewood, which is an expensive and somewhat rare wood. It bugs me that a mallet that would damage the instrument was included. So if you are new to mallet percussion, DO NOT USE THE INCLUDED MALLETS - they will sound horrible and damage a great instrument. Look into purchasing mallets by reputable companies (Innovative, Encore, Vic Firth, etc.) that are made for the xylophone.

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I decided to give this xylophone a try in spite of the not so great picture. I needed a full sized xylophone that is portable and didn't have a lot of $$ to spend on it. It is full sized and the rosewood bars do look much better than they do in the photo. The sound is mixed. For some reason they lined the lower box with a felt-like material which really effects the resonance of the bars, especially in the lower octave and a half. While the top part of the xylophone sounds good for a xylo-in-a-box, the lower octave and a half sounds toy-like. I'm going to try to remove the felt to see if it improves the tone quality of the lower notes. I may also try to remove the frame from the box (it's attached) and see how that improves the sound. For the money, it is a decent instrument for a high school, college, or as a frequently moved instrument. It also gives the auditioning percussionist a full sized instrument to practice on at a reasonable price.(Not a choice you often get with a xylo-in-a-box). For a professional who needs a high quality sound, you'd be better off shelling out the extra $$ for a regular xylo. It's a good base product, and with some tweaking of the box and suspension system they could make it an even better product. I'll update after I futz with it a bit.

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I bought this xylophone with a focus on portability. Based on it's physical dimensions, this instrument is a good size for carrying by hand and in a smaller car. That's not to say it doesn't have some weight. For it's size, it is quite solid and has a professional heft about it that shows up in the frame and bar mounts. The case lid is as solid as the body. The negatives about the instrument is the almost total lack of resonance, which is okay for the upper octaves but is missed somewhat in the lower octave. The bars are completely uniform in width and have a fairly good tone. The instrument's intonation is very good. The Wang portable xylophone is the only xylophone on the market that I saw (before making this purchase), particularly at this price point, that meets my requirements for portability and quality.

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I'm so glad I took a chance on this xylophone. It is ideal for my very specific needs, which were: -- 3.5 octaves -- rosewood keyboard with 1.5" keys -- tabletop model with a small footprint -- cost under $1000 The Wang instrument ostensibly fit the bill, but I had multiple concerns. While I trusted Steve Weiss Music, I had never heard of Wang Percussion and the fact that I could find next to nothing about them on the web did not inspire a lot of confidence. Then there was the godawful stock image with the lipstick red "rosewood" keyboard. Oh, and would the xylophone survive the UPS shipping process intact? Lastly, I found exactly ONE review of the product and, although it was positive (and seemed genuine), I was reluctant to go out on the proverbial limb. Truly, I thought long and hard about plunking down my $800. The shipping box did not arrive totally intact; there were four gashing holes. But the hard case emerged without a scratch. Before giving an account of some initial problems with the keyboard, let me state unequivocally that the manufacturer's stock photo at the Weiss website sucks. The rosewood keys are perfectly lovely and have a natural finish. Now to my problems, which were resolved in about 10 minutes. And I should note here that I am brand-new to the xylophone; I had never before played any xylophone or in fact ever been closer than 20 feet to one (as a member for many years of an orchestral choir). Ok, back to my keyboard problems: 1. There were four "dead" keys. After a quick examination I determined that the cord under those four keys had slipped off the node hooks. After carefully re-positioning the cord, the keys sang. 2. Two of the keys were *seriously* out of tune. I had read that keys could be re-tuned, but these were way, WAY out of whack. After playing repeatedly a scale on that particular octave, I finally figured out that the keys were actually strung in the wrong spots on the keyboard. If I played the scale out of sequence for those two keys, everything was great. So I gathered my courage, took the keyboard apart (luckily the offending keys were near one end), swapped out the keys, and then re-assembled everything. Problem solved! That was 24 hours ago. Since then my little Wang xylophone has worked flawlessly. I have the case sitting on an OnStage Heavy Duty T-stand (WS8550), which seems tailor-made for the Wang and features 8 preset height adjustments. During the day I practice with regular mallets and at night I use soft rubber "practice" mallets. The xylophone's volume is pitched appropriately for both uses. The tone is wonderful, considering the absence of resonators, across the entire keyboard range. The construction of the case box seems solid, with the possible exception of the carrying handles (no problem yet, but I just find it hard to believe they will lug the 50-odd pound case for decades to come without eventually coming loose). All in all, I am thrilled with my purchase. I know that my study of the xylophone will be much easier with my own instrument, and I think the Wang xylophone is a good value: a quality instrument at a reasonable price. I apologize for the length of this review. My assumption is that other folks would like to know a little more about this specific model - and I know how much I benefited from the one other review, so I thought I'd pay it forward. Thanks, Steve Weiss Music for making this Wang xylophone available and for the quick shipment!

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I purchased this instrument from Steve Weiss 6 months ago and am really happy with it. The bars look much better than the stock photo, mine are a dark natural rosewood color, and really beautiful. This instrument sounds great, by far the best "xylo in a box" being made today. Since xylophone resonators are unpitched anyway, the case acts as a resonator for the instrument. The lowest 4 notes do not have the fullness of sound of my resonator xylophone with soft practice mallets, they sound fine with harder mallets. If you're a college percussion major --- buy this instrument. The bars are full size and you can store it with a keyboard stand under your dorm bed. This will save you huge amounts of time waiting for mallet practice rooms to open up at school. Being able to practice softly in your room, or use a non-percussion practice room will make your life easier. If you have an apartment or a single dorm you can practice all night with very soft rubber mallets. Remember around jury time how every practice room is full? Having your own mallet instrument will help out a lot.

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