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Question regarding glockenspiel tuning - Discussions with Dave
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-----Original Message-----
From: Dave
Sent: 07/01/2009
To: jim@percussionclinic.com
Subject: Question regarding glockenspiel tuning
Hi Jim - I hope your email still works! How does one tune a glockenspiel?We have 6 that need tuning in our alumni drum and bugle corps. If you know of anyone in the region that does it reasonably, that would be even better, but we haven't found anyone so far and will likely have to do it ourselves! Please help if you can!
Thanks,
Dave, Drum Major
Hi Dave
Sorry I can't tell you anybody in the area that could do it for you, but I can certainly help out with a little info.
I've attached a couple of pages from a recent building guide I wrote for a "simple glockenspiel" - the instrument is a cheaper "classroom" style metalophone but the principles are the same. Your glocks will likely have bars made of steel. To tune them you will need to remove some of it. If they are just a little bit out then it will need to be a very small amount indeed. I use a drill to remove large amounts - particularly from aluminium. You can do the same for a steel bar, or use an angle grinder or grindstone, or anything that can take away a little of the metal with a fair amount of control. It's possible to tune the first overtone on the lowest few bars on a standard glock, but I never bother - I just tune the fundamentals. At two octaves above the fundamental, the first overtones are pretty much out in the unimportant range for a glock bar - particularly the higher ones. The pages attached shows you where to grind to tune the fundamental.
Hope this helps Dave.
All the Best
Jim McCarthy
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For more help on instrument building you can email Jim.