Tuning a cowbell for your drumkit

I did this about a month ago, but KH, my musical e-buddy, suggested that I share it more widely.

I was at my local animal feed, etc. store, buying some bags of chicken feed (laying mash?), and I noticed that they sold cowbells -- like, actual "clank-clank, wandering-around-in-the-field" cowbells.  I'm always on the lookout for inexpensive cowbells for my drum kit, so I picked it up.

About four weeks ago I -- with difficulty -- pried out the clapper from inside the cowbell.  I managed to get a smaller-sized bolt cutter down in there and made some substantial nicks; then I bent it back and forth with pliers until the weak part bent, and then I bent that segment back until I could get out of the loop that was welded into the inside bottom of the cowbell.

However:  once the clapper was removed, I discovered that the cowbell was too "pingy" and sharp-sounding when I hit it with a drumstick.  I wanted to dull it down.

My solution was to melt some beeswax in a clean glass jar (salsa, with the label removed) in an old toaster oven that I have in the shop.  Then I grabbed the rim of the jar with pliers, and poured a little  melted beeswax into the bottom of the cowbell, then gently swirled the beeswax along the inside bottom of the cowbell (like brandy in a brandy snifter):  the beeswax cooled, leaving a layer of beeswax along the bottom one-third or so of the interior.

I repeated this perhaps five times, building up the layers, and striking it with a drumstick between applications, until it had the tone that I wanted.

If I had deadened the sound too much, I could've just heated the whole thing in the oven, open-end-down on a disposable aluminum pie tin, and started the process over.  I would've salvaged and re-used the beeswax, of course.


I have some somewhat-illustrative photos -- but they're on my cell phone and for some reason this PC (running a version of Linux) doesn't recognize my cell phone properly, so I can't extract my photos directly:  I have to use my laptop, then dump the pics on a USB flashdrive and carry them over.  So I don't do it on a regular basis, because it's inconvenient.

I'll probably carry the photos over in a week or so.


Anyhow:  just sharing a tip on how to tune and/or dampen a musical/percussion cowbell.


--GG

An inexpensive and secret source of percussion instruments

A few weeks ago I figured out that metal scrapyards (or metal recyclers) are good sources of percussion:  they collect brass and bronze among the other types of metal -- and brass and bronze tend to sound pretty good when struck.

The other neat thing is that they just charge scrap-metal prices if you find anything of interest.  One of the guys there said that they sometimes get actual cymbals -- which they toss in with the rest of the brass and bronze.


Because I work during the week, I'm only able to stop by on Saturdays.

The first time I stopped by, the guy said they had just emptied the "brass and bronze" bin a few days ago -- so it was nearly empty.

I waited a week, and then stopped by the following weekend.  Gah!  Same deal.

So, I resolved to stop by every Saturday.


Thus, two weekends ago -- the first of my "regular visits" -- I scored some flat metal rings (future windchimes?), as well as two sturdy metal pipes with external threads (see video).  And yesterday, I picked up a thin-walled capped pipe, which sounds a bit like an agogo, but also like a cowbell (also in video).

The threaded pipes were about AU$7 each (about US$5.60), and the thing-walled one cost me AU$5 (about US$4).  I may keep 'em; I may mount them on wood to make them part of a drum kit, then sell them.




Anyhow, raiding metal recycling places is a new source of percussion instruments for me.  But:  be sure to wear old clothes; you might get a little greasy or dirty, rummaging around.

And bring a drumstick -- for testing purposes.


--GG