[r-t] New method review - part I

[Richard Smith]

Philip Earis wrote:

> 5184 Kettleby Surprise Major
> [...]
> First peal in the method. x38x14x12.58.1236x12x1458x36x38 le12

If ever there was an overwork crying out for an eights place
lead end, the Phobos overwork is it.

I'm surprised that only three major methods have been rung
with the eights place version of this overwork:

  Spanner S         &-3-4-2.5.6-2-5-56-1,8        ABD
  Shoesmith Hall S  &-3-4-2.5.6.34-4.5-4-1,8      ABDac
  Charlotteville S  &-3-4-2.5.36.4-4.3.56-34.5,8  ABDad

Spanner's underwork is a little too static for the overwork
(at least in my opinion), though it does have musical
potential on the front.  Shoesmith Hall, with a nicer line
and with comparable musical potential to Spanner, seems
pretty good.  Charlotteville achieves an spikey line but
spectacularly fails to find any music off the front (unless
you're into 7654s).

Can we do any better?  Well, if we're doing an Earis-esque
chase after <4-runs>, then something like

  &-3-4-2.5.6.34-234.5.34.2-1,1

will weigh in at 60, though the 1234 change is hardly
elegant.  Rearranging the underwork to avoid this only
slightly reduces the <4-run> score, for example

  &-3-4-2.5.6-2-5.34.2-1,1

with 58 <4-runs>.

What about trying to preserve some of the characteristics of
Phobos?  Eight bells doesn't give enough space to have wrong
hunting on six under the treble, not even for four eight
blows with this overwork.  What about hunting on just four?
Twelve blows is possible with

  &-3-4-2.5.36.2-4.5.4-4.7,1

but this does not fare very well musically, and even with
only eight blows of hunting, things are not much better.

Or what if we just take the Phobos underwork and omit the
wrong hunting when the treble is in 9-10 and 11-12?  This
turns out to be a good strategy.

  &-3-4-2.5.6-34-5-6-5,1

Reasonable music off the front (and 55 <4-runs> if anyone's
counting), a not-too-static line, and ABDa falseness.

So how does this compare with Shoesmith Hall?  Shoesmith
wins with the interest of its line, but slightly looses out
musically, for example with two fewer 8765s off the front in
the plain course.  Both good methods, though.

RAS