This instrument is a true rarity. It's not a piano or organ like most of what comes through our shop — it's an amplified vibraphone, with a piezo pickup under each bar feeding a built-in preamp. We prioritize period-correct vintage components whenever possible, and turn to the best available reproduction parts when originals are no longer viable — always working to preserve the instrument's original character and tone. The result is an instrument that plays and sounds better than it likely has in decades.
The Electravibe was built by J.C. Deagan, Inc., the Chicago-based percussion maker founded in 1880 by John Calhoun Deagan — the same company behind the NBC chimes and the landmark tower still standing at their old Ravenswood headquarters. Produced from 1970 to 1982, the Electravibe (Model 515) took Deagan's aluminum-bar vibraphone and wired it for the stage: a piezo pickup on every bar runs into a preamp with built-in spring reverb, bass/treble EQ, and electronic tremolo, outputting through a standard 1/4" jack so it can go straight into an amp, pedalboard, or mixing board. It's a three-octave (F-F) instrument that ships with folding legs and a sustain pedal, both of which store inside its carrying case for load-in and load-out. Lighthouse keyboardist Paul Hoffert played one on stage at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival.
