Homemade Bells - the Gory Details

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Listen to LG2.mp3 (14.5K)

Very interesting and somewhat concerning, this bell is somewhat longer than LG1 yet it rings higher. This could mean two things:

1. The metal composition of each tank varies quite a bit even though it looks the same
2. When the bells are "long" they function in "bar modes" (like wind chimes) but when short the function in "bell modes".

This is the bottom of LG2. Honestly, I did not expect it to sound like much. While the thing was sitting on the ground (on its base) I inadvertantly bonked it. It rang. I was surprised. So I drilled a hole, hung it, and rung it.

Listen to LG2b.mp3 (17.3K) It's SWEET!

I have come to the conclusion that the bell xylophone will be made with bell bottoms, not tops. The sound is singular, crisp, and clear -- just the thing that I think you'd want in a xylophone. This is really good news b/c now I will significantly reduce my waste.

Since this one was for my neighbor (who got me into this mess :->) and he wanted it cut in half, that's what he got.

Listen to Large-Bell-Half.mp3 (28K)

It sounds pretty sweet. Higher than the Medium Orange one (at 40") which makes sense considering it is significantly shorter. Diameter and thickness do matter, but it seems that length matters the most.

NOTE: This one sounds pretty much the same note as the short green bell, only in a lower octave, or with more overtones. This is a fairly interesting.

I have another one of these big grey ones that I intend to cut down in varying lengths and measure along the way. I'm hoping to come up with something like "x" inches == "X" Hz, but I'm pre-supposing that the relationship is not linear.

This bell was one of the precut ones.

Listen to Short-Blue-Bell.mp3 (31K)

You'll notice that this one has a fairly clean single note sounding tone. I attribute this to the shortness of the bell.

This bell was also one of the precut ones.

Listen to Short-Green-Bell.mp3 (19K)

You'll notice that this one also has a fairly clean single note sounding tone and is lower than the short blue one. This makes sense since the bell has the same general dimensions on it is longer.

This bell was this first one I cut and I actually cut it twice, although I only recorded the second cut.

You'll notice that the measured tone doesn't seem to change when the bell gets shorter. This does not make sense, except for the fact that at this length the bell is considerably rich with many tones. Before the second cut the bell sounded considerably more "ugly" or less clean.

Listen to Long-Blue-Bell.mp3 (29K)

This one is a bit bigger than the small ones in diameter and wall thickness. I cut it off fairly close to the bottom and it has a pretty ugly sound. This one is great example of the many frequencies that bells can generate.

Listen to Medium-Orange-Bell.mp3 (24K)

I have formed a hypothesis that cutting the bells of right at the bottom doesn't sound so great and that cutting them shorter is better.

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