OT: Accuracy of Franz Metronomes

Steve Freides

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Nov 6, 2011, 3:24:34 PM11/6/11

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I have an old, black box electric metronome - like this one

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120719493077

NB: Not my auction, no connection, just was looking for a picture.

It is quite inaccurate, I have figured out, using the "tap" feature of
some of my more modern electronic metronomes, e.g., when it says 60,
it's doing 63. When it says 44, it's clicking away at 50.

Does anyone know if there's anything to be done about this, i.e., are
these adjustable, do they need to be opened up and oiled or something
along those lines?

Thanks.

-S-

wollybird

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Nov 6, 2011, 4:01:36 PM11/6/11

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probably not much you can do other than make a new scale or replace
one of the components. My guess is it's a rheostat/capacitor do-jobbie
with an inaccurate component.
no oil

dsi1

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Nov 6, 2011, 6:16:01 PM11/6/11

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You cannot do anything about it. You could mark the correct times on the
scale but that's going to drift too. That's the nature of old analog
electronics. The timing will change when the unit has been running for a
while and will also change with the temperature. You should ignore the
scale and just set the time by ear.

John Nguyen

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Nov 6, 2011, 7:05:55 PM11/6/11

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Yoy can play with it a little, but certainly not accurate by any mean.
I could make it beat at 60 when set at 58 and beat at 120 when set at
126. That's was the best for anything between. If you are venturous,
remove the 2 screws at the bottom to get access to the black plastic
contraption on the indication axle. There are 3 screws to losen up the
thing. Turn it clock-wise slow it down, counter-clockwise speed it up.
Tighten them up and test it out.

If you loose any of the 4 rubber feet, a 2HB pencil's eraser will work
just fine. Don't ask me why I know this.
Cheers,

John

P.S. After you're satisfied with your adjustment, ebay the darn thing
and use the following on your computer:

http://www.metronomeonline.com/

thomas

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Nov 6, 2011, 7:22:16 PM11/6/11

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On Nov 6, 7:05 pm, John Nguyen <johnnguyen5...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yoy can play with it a little, but certainly not accurate by any mean.
> I could make it beat at 60 when set at 58 and beat at 120 when set at
> 126. That's was the best for anything between. If you are venturous,
> remove the 2 screws at the bottom to get access to the black plastic
> contraption on the indication axle. There are 3 screws to losen up the
> thing. Turn it clock-wise slow it down, counter-clockwise speed it up.
> Tighten them up and test it out.

While you have the back off, generously flood the entire interior with
oil.

Troy III

John Nguyen

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Nov 6, 2011, 7:32:06 PM11/6/11

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Yeah! Extra virgin olive oil is the best.

wollybird

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Nov 6, 2011, 7:39:08 PM11/6/11

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A cup of chilli is best

dsi1

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Nov 6, 2011, 9:49:57 PM11/6/11

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This sounds like good advice. How the heck is this gizmo powered? I'm
guessing 9V battery. Is the body made of bakelite? I like bakelite.

Matt Faunce

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Nov 6, 2011, 10:14:18 PM11/6/11

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On Sunday, November 6, 2011 7:05:55 PM UTC-5, John Nguyen wrote:
>
> and use the following on your computer:
>
> http://www.metronomeonline.com/

I played with this one a little bit, you can get some groovy beats with it:

http://advanced.bestmetronome.com/

Matt

John Nguyen

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Nov 6, 2011, 10:09:03 PM11/6/11

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> guessing 9V battery. Is the body made of bakelite? I like bakelite.-

Straight 120V power feed.

dsi1

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Nov 6, 2011, 10:40:46 PM11/6/11

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On 11/6/2011 2:05 PM, John Nguyen wrote:
> P.S. After you're satisfied with your adjustment, ebay the darn thing
> and use the following on your computer:
>
> http://www.metronomeonline.com/

After you've sold the thing on eBay and used the link on your computer,
delete the bookmark to metronomeonline.com and just get this for your
Android device:

https://market.android.com/details?id=gabriel.metronome.pro&hl=en

After you've done that, throw away your Android device, move to the
jungle, and keep time with your right foot*.

*But seriously folks, the mobile metronome app is pretty spiffy, and
it's free!

Steve Freides

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Nov 7, 2011, 10:26:33 AM11/7/11

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John Nguyen wrote:
> On Nov 6, 3:24 pm, "Steve Freides" <st...@kbnj.com> wrote:
>> I have an old, black box electric metronome - like this one
>>
>> http://www.ebay.com/itm/120719493077
>>
>> NB: Not my auction, no connection, just was looking for a picture.
>>
>> It is quite inaccurate, I have figured out, using the "tap" feature
>> of some of my more modern electronic metronomes, e.g., when it says
>> 60, it's doing 63. When it says 44, it's clicking away at 50.

> Yoy can play with it a little, but certainly not accurate by any mean.
> I could make it beat at 60 when set at 58 and beat at 120 when set at
> 126. That's was the best for anything between. If you are venturous,
> remove the 2 screws at the bottom to get access to the black plastic
> contraption on the indication axle. There are 3 screws to losen up the
> thing. Turn it clock-wise slow it down, counter-clockwise speed it up.
> Tighten them up and test it out.

Cool - I might try that. Mine is always fast, so slowing it down would
give me a chance to make it accurate at some tempi and more accurate at
all.

> If you loose any of the 4 rubber feet, a 2HB pencil's eraser will work
> just fine. Don't ask me why I know this.
> Cheers,
>
> John
>
> P.S. After you're satisfied with your adjustment, ebay the darn thing
> and use the following on your computer:
>
> http://www.metronomeonline.com/

Yes, and I have a metronome app on the iPad that I keep in my teaching
studio, but I have such fond memories of the old black box - it's what
all the teachers used at Mannes.

Oh, and I almost forgot, the idea of putting chili inside the metronome
is just ridiculous - everyone knows you have to have the wooden casing
for that to work, and I have the black plastic/Bakelite casing so
there's no point.

-S-

thomas

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Nov 7, 2011, 11:19:40 AM11/7/11

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On Nov 6, 10:09 pm, John Nguyen <johnnguyen5...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > This sounds like good advice. How the heck is this gizmo powered? I'm
> > guessing 9V battery. Is the body made of bakelite? I like bakelite.-
>
> Straight 120V power feed.

I actually have an old tube-powered metronome in a nice bakelite body.
I'll post a video with it, once I learn how to keep time.

daveA

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Nov 7, 2011, 4:42:55 PM11/7/11

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On Nov 6, 3:24 pm, "Steve Freides" <st...@kbnj.com> wrote:

The thing can be calibrated. It is electric, with a motor, not
electronic.
It was a factory job, but since there is no factory, there's nothing
for
it but to do it yourself. I got mine to be about 1 pct off in the
middle.
When you correct one tempo, it changes all the others too, so
you have to do successive approximations at different tempos
until you are satisfied or tired. Regards, daveA.

dsi1

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Nov 7, 2011, 4:45:39 PM11/7/11

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An old tube metronome somehow makes me sad. They're like an old guy
that's lost his facilities and is at the whims of time and temperature.
It's electronic blood barely flowing through it's crystallized solder
joints and dried up capacitor electrolytes can be brought to a halt with
the tinniest of cracks in the connections. Along with funky sounding
ticks, can be heard any number of random cracks and pops and hisses. A
mechanical metronome is a lot happier. It's mainspring may have lost it
spring but it's voice is still clear and strong.

thomas

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Nov 7, 2011, 8:41:31 PM11/7/11

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My tube nome sounds great. They are remarkably robust compared to tube
radios and amps.