Glock extended range

[bigmalletman]

I hope to build the 5 octave marimba and vibraphone, but wanted to try building the glock first.
However, most orchestra bells I've played are ~2.5 octaves: G-C or if I'm lucky F-C. I was hoping to extend the glock plan from 2 octaves to 2.5. The lowest note appears to be C at 156mm. Would anyone happen to know what the measurements would be for the extra 5 or 7 lower bars?

Ding...

[Jim McCarthy]

Unfortunately the Simple glock guide is exactly that - a guide for a simple glock. It is not really similar to the instrument you would use in orchestral situations, rather more the sort of generic metalophone that you might find in schools etc. For an orchestral glock you would be better suited to go for thicker bars - like about 10mm - and high carbon steel is best rather than aluminium - though some do use various aluminium alloys like the 2024 that is commonly in use for vibes. You would also be better off going with a bit more length for the bars at the top.

Getting a set of measurements is not so tough really - you just go with an arbitrary length that works well for the tuning - for your top note and your bottom notes. Then you lay out your black note and white note rows with the correct spacing between (can be just done on paper of course as you have not actually cut the bars yet!) The bar lengths in between the top and bottom are simply a linear graduation - so literally rule a line between the ends of the top and bottom and you have the lengths in between. This is the method that will correctly give you bars that have nodes lining up over your struts in the end.

If you want to extend the SG plan - then just do exactly this - line up the bars that are given... then rule a line further down, and get your lengths that way.

Hope that helps!
Jim