Author Topic: Thickness of Glockenspiel Bars  (Read 6423 times)

Breeding

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Thickness of Glockenspiel Bars
« on: October 15, 2012, 04:32:28 AM »
I note that the thickness of the aluminum bars called for in the guide to build a basic glock is 1/8 of an inch.  I already have some aluminum bars but they are 1/4 inch thick.  Is it ok to use them or are they too thick to,make a good glock ?

Jim McCarthy

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Re: Thickness of Glockenspiel Bars
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2012, 02:47:44 AM »
In general the 1/4" bars would be fine. For those specific plans - because the higher bars are quite short, you might find that you end up tuning the whole instrument an octave higher than you would with the thinner bars. That would actually bring it more into line with concert glock pitch range. technically thicker bars will always start higher in pitch than thinner ones, and technically you can lower them as much as you like by simply grinding away more material from the arch - but of course in practice there does come a point where it becomes difficult to lower the bar further without destroying the bar!!! But in general 1/4" thick bars would actually be better - this specific plan I feel you would either end up with an octave higher (which is fine) or you could change the bar dimensions so that your upper bars wer not so short. If you did that you would of course have to change the frame dimensions to suit.
Jim