[Bell Historians] Great Bells of Britain - COBH

[Carl S Zimmerman]

At 22:40 +0800 06/11/17, Chris Pickford wrote:
>
>But I'm puzzled by the musical notes attributed by DLC which seem to 
>imply (and it's unlikely) that there was a one and a half tone gap 
>between the two largest bells in the 1916 carillon. Isn't it more 
>likely that the new bells fills the gaps between whole tones - and 
>would therefore be 48 and 46 in the 49-bell instrument (not 48 and 
>47). If so, then one would fit between the 48cwt and 67 cwt bells - 
>guess 55 cwt - and the other would be smaller (say 40 cwt)
>
>Any advances on this?
_____

Your hypothesis is correct.  The bass bell at Cobh has actual pitch A 
but is connected to C on the keyboard (and always has been).  The 
keyboard range was and is 4 octaves, C-C.  Before the Eijsbouts 
addition, keyboard bass C# and D# were missing; the actual pitches of 
the two new bells are therefore B-flat and C.  (Most carillons are, 
like Cobh, transposing instrument.)  Your guess at the weights of 
those bells is as good as any; I haven't received a reply from Adrian 
Gebruers yet.

May I remind y'all that carillons and chimes are numbered from the 
bass to the treble, contrary to the way that rings are numbered.  So 
the pre-1998 Cobh carillon would have consisted of #1,#3,#5-49, and 
Eijsbouts supplied the missing #2 and #4.

Carl