With the tuning work out of the way, we drove into Indianapolis and went to the Scottish Rite Cathedral where we were able to look at the 1928 Taylor carillon. The bass bell weighs 10,972lbs and sounds the note G. The original instrument was altered by having Paccard trebles added in 1965 to replace the Taylor trebles and extend the range, but has not been touched significantly since then. The clavier ...
Bell tuning in the USA pt 3
Day two saw us transporting a 35″ diameter Meneely bell to a local engineering works that had a vertical borer to see if we could retune it to match the pitch of a Stuckstede bell from the same church. The bell was quickly turned over with the aid of a fork lift – a technique familiar from Hayward Mills operations – and placed mouth up on the bed of a suitable ...
Tuning bells in the USA pt 2
Having driven down to Indianapolis and slept a bit, it was time to get to the business of tuning bells. Ben had previously been given a 16″ B crook bell profile by Peter Hayward at John Taylor & Co. and cast a bell from it. The bell was set on a horizontal lathe and we set about tuning the bell with the engineering expertise of Andy Prather. The “as cast” frequencies indicated ...
Tuning bells in the USA pt 1
I was asked a few weeks ago if I would be prepared to visit Smiths Clock and Bell Inc just outside Indianapolis to help them to establish a bell tuning capability. Ben Sunderlin has been studying bell casting techniques, latterly at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend and produced a number of bells.
I flew into Chicago O’Hare and was picked up from there by Ben. ...
I flew into Chicago O’Hare and was picked up from there by Ben. ...
Dutch Bellfounders to merge
I saw this press release posted the other day. It’s always a sad moment when such long established firms loose their individuality:
Dutch Royal Bell Foundries to join forces
As from May 1st 2014, Royal Eijsbouts from Asten and Royal Petit & Fritsen from Aarle-Rixtel will join forces and head towards the future together. This step was chosen as being the best answer to challenges both companies are facing. In the case of Petit & Fritsen, a succession issue is imminent, whereas ...
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TV appearance
Before I left the bellfoundry, I filmed a short item with Michael Portillo for his “Great British Railway Journeys” series. It is on iPlayer, but not for long. http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b03qgdph/
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Visit to the Bellfoundry
I popped into the Foundry today and had a long chat to Mike Semken about Exaudite – really warm positive response to my proposals!
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