[Bell Historians] Brancepeth

[DJ Bryant]

> I wrote to this mailing list to get advice on what should be done at 
> Brancepeth, thinking perhaps members would possibly have experience of 
> fire damaged bells, or re-tuning of pre-Simpson tuned bells and would be 
> able to inform of what had happened to these cases. When I wrote "some 
> other jobs where they have tried to do something similar with tuning 
> haven't produced very good results" I meant 'they' in general and not 
> specifically Taylors, and by adding "no examples were given" I was 
> trying to highlight this generality, although I can now see that this 
> statement may not give this impression.
> Reading it again, I realize that the e-mail wasn't worded very well and 
> apologize for any offence that this may have caused.

I don't think it caused any offence. Basically, the foundries can only do
their best when it comes to tuning old bells, anf it is often the case
that bells are irredeemably poor, and although tuning them may improve
them somewhat they will still remain poor. The general consensus seems to
be that Brancepeth bells are poor. Retuning will probably improve them,
but will never make them as good as a new ring. In my experience, it is a
common misconception amongst ringers that poor bells will become good
after tuning. This may sometimes be the case, but certainly cannot be
considered a general rule. Presumably Taylor's will have analysed the
Brancepeth bells, and will therefore have a fairly good idea of how well
they are likely to tune up. Why not ask them?

David