> Last year I made a 25-note set of hanging chimes out of copper pipe,
> and it took at least 20 minutes to file each note to pitch.  Following
> a length chart was out of the question, because every pipe from the
> store gave different results.  (Yes, I checked the gauge!)  The
> results were worth it to me, but you'll have to be a good salesman.

Well, once you've tuned them, you've tuned them, and if they change
pitch by themselves you can declare that the gods are against you and
you're not going to do it again.  Not like a piano.

Ohio State University has a set of twelve bells tuned to what's called
the American Chime System, which means they go bong instead of clang
like in Europe.  Anyway, I used to play these things, which was a nifty
arrangement because I couldn't play a keyboard instrument.

Because I wanted something to practice on, and because it would be
handy to have a test system up there so we could try out tunes without
having climb all the way down from the Orton Hall tower and find
a piano, I built a sort of Amazon Basin xylophone out of some wood
bars I found in the discard bin at the late Ohio State University craft
shop.  I tuned them, drilled them, and strung them on a piece of
parachute cord, sort of like a rope ladder held horizontally.  The
tuning wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  What you do is, if the
note is too low, you cut some bar off the end, and if it's too high,
you belly out the bar a bit more.

A radial-arm saw proved to be a very good tool for the latter task,
but I'm afraid I didn't win many converts standing there tooting my
frequency reference, e.g., a plastic recorder, bonking the latest bar,
and then taking a bit off with the power saw.  Everyone sort of looked
at me, but I've gotten used to that over the years.

Mark Kinsler