Expert: William J Perkins - 11/18/2008

Question
We were given a howard miller grandfather clock. It is about 30 years old. The chimes are suspended tubes, the quarter hour tones are too loud while the hour tones are very faint. The qtr hour tones also sound "tinny" at times. I can take the back off and see each "strike or hammer" is attached to a string. How can I adjust the tone/volume. Thanks for advice.

Answer
The volume of a chime is governed by the pins in the musical drum.  These pins determine how far to lift the hammers and precisely when to drop them.  Since the chime tubes themselves are in a fixed, albiet, floating position they cannot do anything other that sound the same regardless of what sequence is being struck.  In your description you did not mention the number of tubes no what melodies the clock played.  If your clock uses seperate tube for the strike I would think you need to readjust the hammers etc for that function only.  Regardless the current information is not sufficient for me to make any specific reccomendations.  Based upon what is before me, I would suggest the clock be given a good leaning.  Regards WJP