Help! The bell eats my gloves!

[Nicholas Barnard]

Morn’n Everyone!

I figured since there is some activity here, I’ll ask this question over here instead of on Facebook.. (i’m there, but I’m very eh on it, since it does a poor job of making archived conversation accessible.


So as the subject mentions I run into an issue with a few bells that grab my gloves. They're Malmark bells, G3 to B3 and they’re older. The hand guards show New Britain, PA and the handles for the accidentals have the sharp on one side and the flat on the other, so I’m guessing they were made between 1978 and 1985 per https://www.malmark.com/about-us/

What happens is as I hold them my glove gets stuck in between the bit of the handle and the handguard. I don’t have this problem with any other bells except these five. (On the low end have a new C3, an F3, which I frequently play. And I’ve played every bell in four octaves on both Malmark and Schulmerich, so I don’t think its me. ;-) )

I’m curious if anyone has any suggestions on how to prevent this from happening? They generally seem to be assembled pretty well, but I’m curious if perhaps its a design issue with the bells of that era, and new handles, handguards, and yokes would fix the issue? Though that seems like a fair bit of money to fix this.

Does anyone have any thoughts?


Nick

[Silver Woodbury]

Hi, Nick!

It sounds like you've checked to make sure the main assembly screw (that goes through the center of the handle block) on each bell is tight. Have you made sure the handle assembly screw/couplers (that go through hold the handle itself to the handle block) are tight? If they aren't, they may be moving enough to catch your gloves. With parts of that vintage, it may be possible that the disks have warped or sagged some as well, causing a small gap. If you do try replacing parts, I'd start with the disks and handles first. The yokes should be fine.

Hope that helps!
Silver

Mrs. Silver D. Woodbury
Owner/Operator
Silverbell Enterprises
10012 Carnie Circle
Yukon, OK 73099
405-519-0331
silve...@cox.net or sbesil...@gmail.com

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[long...@aol.com]

I haven't played the 3s, but Malmark 4s I used to play caught my gloves and by snagging on the screws in the handles... probably not the same problem, but similar results. I think they might have gotten caught in the joints a few times, too, as they flexed when I rang. 

 

Kath Wissinger

[Nicholas Barnard]

To clarify a bit, since I in reading Kath and Christine’s comments I realized there was a bit of confusion.

My fabric of gloves is getting stuck where the handle and the hand guard meet. So its definitely not on the screws.

I’ll be looking into tightening everything up. If that doesn’t work, I might request that we get new handles and hand guards.

Nick

[dmbec...@gmail.com]

Once you have verified that all is tightened appropriately, if the problem persists, you might try using a rubber band or electrical tape to cover the seam.  That would prove or disprove the cause.  And if proved, then it would serve as an interim fix, or, depending on budget, a longer term work-around.

DawnB

[Ann Frederking]

Our handles and handle guards were replaced when our bells were refurbished (some 20 years ago already); so I can't comment on your handle guards, but do they have a slight recess where the handle fits into it? The newer ones do and you need to take care when taking the bell apart that you don't affect the way they fit into that recess. If you have it and the handle isn't fitting into it properly, it could be affecting how the bell eats your glove.

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