Bell tuning before tuning forks

[Richard Offen]

--- In bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com, "Bill Hibbert" <bill at h...> 
wrote:
> Does anyone know of reference material I could read explaining how 
> (UK) bellfounders tuned their bells before the introduction of the 
> tuning fork? I know about the Hemony bars, I have read Elphick, and 
> have consulted the various reading lists and bibliographies, but 
have 
> not yet found any detailed description of how tuning was done.
> 
> I am particularly interested to know what pitch references were 
used 
> and how the bells were compared against them.
> 
> Any help gratefully accepted.
> 
> Bill H

In her Presidential Address on John Rudhall to the Bristol and 
Gloucestershire Archaeological Society (Transactions, Volume 121, 
2003), Mary Bliss talks about Rudhall using a pitch pipe similar to 
those used in churches to pitch the note for hymn singing for taking 
the notes of bells. This pipe was rather like a stopped, wooden 
organ pipe, with lines marked on the side indicating the various 
notes obtained when moving the stopper. 

Mary explains that this method of pitching is described in Rudhall's 
notebook, which he kept on his work from the time Thomas Mears took 
over the Gloucester firm, until John's death in 1835. Mary, I am 
sure, would be delighted to give you more detailed information on her 
researches into the Rudhall foundry.

I believe, although I've never seen a copy of the book, that Fred 
Sharpe illustrates a tuning chisel in Chruch Bells of Oxfordshire.

Other than these two references, I don't know of anything else 
written down.

Richard