[sdiy] Tubular Bells

[Tom Arnold]

I didnt respond earlier because my brain is fried and I couldnt think of the
type of metal the tubes I used was...

Stainless Steel.  Fairly hard stuff, found surplus.  I havent made a full
set of bells, but I did make a couple that rang centered around 50hz ( 3" pipe
several meters long ).  I hung'em horizontally by the ends with a couple
large springs.  Gotta love an instrument you tune with a sawz-all...
( this was set up for a "performance" along side a two person "stringed"
instrument made from several car innertubes, a 55gallon drum,  and some 2x4's.
Pitch was varied by one person pulling a 2x4 lever at one end, the drum was
used as the radiator... 
All we needed was Yoko Ono singing and it'd have been perfect... )

I used to have a set of Bells common in school music programs.  They were small
wooden boxes with a flat striking surface on top.  When I got them they had
hard rubber spacers under the bells ( o-rings around the retaining screws )
which had rotted over the years.  I replaced them with felt o-rings because
I didnt have anything on hand that was better and it worked fine.  For a
larger bell I'd expect felt to compact too much.  I'd probably try string or
rope if I was doing something larger ( seen on xylophone DIY sites ).

Uh, anyway, back to the tube metal...  Check your local metal surplus
places.  I was lucky and got scraps of reactor cooling pipe ( Newport News
Shipbuilding was nearby ) which was really high quality stuff.  A good
strike ( used a wooden mallet with a leather face ) would ring for what
seemed like hours.  And it was LLLOOOUUUDDDDDD.


-- 
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 - Tom Arnold       -  Free Synth DIY webspace http://www.sdiy.org 
 - SynthGeek        -
 - BBD Fanatic      -  "...is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?" 
 - echo evho wjxo   -    Juanita Shrugs. "What's the difference?" 
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