At Meeks, Watson & Company, the bellfounders of America, we have made a specialty of designing and casting bells of custom profiles to match those of both historic and present-day bellfounders. This has been done both for the extension of existing chimes and carillons, as well as when bells of poor tonal quality must be replaced in an instrument. Often, we have cast new bells to match former profiles by an existing foundry, profiles that even they no longer cast. Our process, our experience and our equipment make this possible.
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Cutting a special sweep pattern
on our CNC vertical machining center |
Special sweep patterns completed |
| The blending of old and new bells, and bells of different founders to form a successful musical whole is a special art, and one in which we have had much experience over the years. Often, this involves tuning certain bells, and recasting others, the careful design of just the proper clapper materials and striking ball weights, and clapper and action geometry. These are all facets of the art of making a true musical instrument of bells. | |
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Original chime bells tuned, others
recast and still others added to form an extended chime, all cooperating
harmoniously |
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Sometimes we are called upon to restore bells in an instrument where disaster has taken away seemingly irreplaceable castings...but through analysis of the still existing bells, and of the remaining fragments of those lost, an instrument may be restored. Such a case was the restoration of the chime of St. John’s Anglican Church, Lunenburg, NS, Canada, where their chimer, Peter Allen, is shown welcoming the chime back to the restored church in the photo below. |
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An advertisement for our company appeared in a recent issue of the Bulletin of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, featuring the special profile additional bass bell for the 1925 Gillett & Johnston carillon of St. George’s Anglican Church, Guelph, Ontario, Canada which we made in 2006. This advertisement may be seen HERE. |