Tuning forks.

[Carl S Zimmerman]

Richard Offen wrote:
>The are loads of examples of superb rings cast in the last 20 or 30
>years (electronic frequency measuring devices have been around that
>long!) by both our British foundries - can't say I've ever been over
>impressed by the work of our Dutch friends!

I haven't heard any Dutch bells heard for change ringing, so I can't 
respond directly to his point.  However, I can say that all seven of 
the modern bellfoundries which make carillons that I've heard (two 
English, two Dutch, one French, one Norwegian, one American) produce 
excellently tuned bells.  It's still true that each foundry has a 
different idea of what the character of its bells should be - which 
amounts to the relative strengths of the various partial tones.  And 
acoustics do matter enormously.  Mediocre bells in a fine belfry can 
sound better than excellent bells in a poor one.  So it's not all 
down to tuning, though tuning is always important.

CSZ