Subject: Re: Looking for info on wind chimes

From: [email-masked] (J. Kimberlin)
Date: 8 Sep 1995 17:06:33 -0700

In article <[email-masked]>, John W. Hall <[email-masked]> wrote:
>On 6 Sep 1995 21:37:30 GMT, 
>Clay Timmons   <[email-masked]> wrote:
>
>>I'm looking for info on making wind chimes.
>>Any books or magazine article references would be appreciated.
>>
>>I can easily cut pipe to the proper length and drill the hole
>>for a support string.  My question is what length should
>>I cut the pipe for a given note?  What type of pipe is
>>preferred?  Where should the mounting hole and the 
>>strike point be located?
>>
>I used 1/2" copper pipe and simply started cutting lengths and tapping 
>them looking for a pleasing pitch.  I drilled about 3/8 from the top 
>to hang, and adjusted the banger to hang where it seemed to swing 
>most freely yet hit everything. All eyeball work. It worked out quite 
>well. clean the burrs from the holes and use the heaviest 
>monofilament you can to hang otherwise the metal will cut 
>through the line. Obviously this won't work if you are trying for 
>particular pitches, but I think the appeal of the wind chime is the 
>degree of randomness anyway.
>John
>
I agree with John.  There is a certain satisfaction in making these 
things experimentally yourself.  If you have to have particular pitches, 
go to any decent musical instrument store and get a tuning fork, or 
several.  You hit the fork and your chime tube about the same time and 
trim the chime tube until you no longer hear the beat frequency between 
the two.  You will then have matched frequencies of the two (at their 
temperature).  Wind chimes sometimes sound nice IMHO but sometimes the 
tones are so dissonate as to be oppressive.  The ear can easily hear 
5/100 of a semitone and regardless of which tone system you want your 
chimes to sound, you have to keep the semitone interval pleasing.  My 
wife, a research musicologist, won't have one of these things around.  
Drives her nuts.

JerryK