How to make a marimba Imagine... You have a whole range of professional mallet instruments... the musicians are fascinated and you STILL have budget to spare! If any of these apply to you then read more..... You are looking for a serious concert instrument not a toy but you simply can''t afford a commercial instrument You are a percussion student or a parent of a percussion student and you are looking for an inexpensive practice instrument for the home You are looking for a really fun project to build which will be a real talking pont and source of joy for years to come. Are looking for an inexpensive way to get Instruments for Schools for classroom percussion ensembles You are you looking for an instrument that will suit a student right through their high school years even for music exams Then read further to learn about the solutions offered on this page..... So easy an 8 year old boy can build one! This photo right here is of the actual instrument that 8 year old Greg built. Dear Friend Have you ever looked at Marimbas or Xylophones in the music stores and wondered… "……How on earth can these instruments cost so much?" because after all… they are just planks of wood siting on a frame with resonating tubes to amplify the sound. and the last time I checked the best price I could find of a student model three octave marimba was $2750 (USD) - There may of course be cheaper ones but to get a reasonable concert instrument will cost upwards of $5000. And of course if you are after a fully professional Five Octave Marimba then be prepared to fork over closer to $20 000!! Furthermore even for a small box resonated xylophone you can pay upwards of $400 for a good quality instrument.. and schools need to buy full class sets of them...