Made my own chimes

ArcsDrums

Junior Member
Desided to make my own chimes and finally finished them today. They are not perfect but they work! Next time I think I will make a bigger one and use some other thinner fiber and maybe some exotic wood ;)
 

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Here are the chimes I made about three years ago. They are made from 1/4 inch aluminum bar from the hardware store. Just a hint. I used fishing line, and pegged one hole with a toothpick while pulling the line thru the next one in an attempt to keep them level. The wood is a piece of oak. This is not a good photo sorry but I can't find the individual one I took. I used a six foot aluminum bar cut into one foot sections then cut the first bar at 4/8 inches for the longest and shortest bar then graduated down by 1/8th inch increments. They sound great for aluminum.
 

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Caddy, where did you pick up the bars? never thought of making my own but may try it now

I bought some aluminum rods from Home Depot, the local hardware store. (Get the solid ones, NOT the hollow tubes!) I carefully calculated the appropriate lengths I wanted, measured them, cut them with my chop saw, then drilled the holes.
 
Cool. Wish I would have thought of that. I could have saved $40.00 bucks. $60.00 less $20.00 for materials.
 

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ok next project in the que ....once i finish dolling up the acrolite i just snagged and begin the rewrap on the "mini kit".....(16" marching bass, 14 marching snare turned into a floor tom and the 12 inch marching tom)
 
So the pitch is determined by the length?

So you should be able to "tune" them by cutting them to the "right" length, correct?
 
So the pitch is determined by the length?

So you should be able to "tune" them by cutting them to the "right" length, correct?

Yes, you could tune them to notes, or a scale, or whatever you wanted, by cutting/filing them to the right lengths/masses. But, if you're making chimes, you want to keep away from that kind of tuning, unless you have a specific intention for it.
 
What is the standard length for the longest aluminum bar on say some chimes with 35 bars, and then how much smaller do you get on each bar going down? Also what would the length of the wood need to be, and the spacing in between each bar to make it look even? I don't know much about chimes but it seems like a really interesting idea to make some.
 
What is the standard length for the longest aluminum bar on say some chimes with 35 bars, and then how much smaller do you get on each bar going down? Also what would the length of the wood need to be, and the spacing in between each bar to make it look even? I don't know much about chimes but it seems like a really interesting idea to make some.

I don't think that there's a "standard" length. When I made mine (50 bars), I figured the smallest one should be no shorter than 2.5", so I just made each bar 3/16" larger than the previous. It seemed to work out fine...
 
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