[Bell Historians] Rings of 12 - keynotes.

[David Bryant]

From: "jim phillips" <jim at p...>

> Taunton are certainly not a load of old junk. You are confusing the 'go'
of
> the bells with the sound which is one of the reasons why the Grimthorpe 12
> at Worcester were recast. Worcester still go badly. A good piece of
> ringing at Taunton with a band willing to put their back into it will show
> the bells to be a mellow 12, none of your flutes and piccolos and boring
hum
> there, with its obtrusive harmonics stomping down the stairs like at
> Canterbury. Once your ears pick up these harmonics in a modern Simpson
> Csharp ring the rest of any peal attempt is spoilt soundwise.
> There is a subtle difference between a tenor tuned to Dflat which is
> superior to a Csharp tenor. Surely a bell should be tuned by forks to a
> sound pleasant to the human ear. I am not impressed by the over use of Hz
> to describe the sound produced by a bell.

I don't agree with you on Taunton Jim. I was steeple keeper of them for
several years, and I think they're a nasty, sour sounding lot. And I still
say that as far as bells are concerned C# and Db are the same, and nobody
has yet posted anything other than vague supposition to say otherwise.

David