Where to find good sanctus bells?
  • MusicMan514
    Posts: 1
    Howdy,

    Where can I find a good set of sanctus bells? I've bought two and they were both horribly out of tune The first one was from Sadbury Brass that came from Autom- I was hoping I could get away with a a $100 set, and I quickly learned my lesson and sent those back. The second set was a $500 set from Excelsis that I bought from FC Zeigler. I had high hopes for this set, as I had found a YouTube video from Zeigler of them ringing the bells. But the set we received sounds much lower than the video and sounds horribly out of tune. Here's the video from Zeigler vs what we got:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1szx3qv84E
    https://youtu.be/jspskt_vM3Y

    All this leaves me with a few questions: 1) Is there a way I can tune the set I already have? 2) Is the quality control from these casts just THAT bad? and 3) Where can I find a good-sounding set of sanctus bells?

    Thanks,
    Mark
    Thanked by 1Chant_Supremacist
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,440
    Have you tried Almy, or Wippells?
  • Casavant Organist
    Posts: 812
    1)
    I don't think so.
    2)
    I have heard many a variation in casting, especially from brass bells.
    3)
    What you want is a set of bells in bronze. Brass bells simply don't sound as good - they aren't as resonant. (Cymbals are made of bronze, as are large tower bells.) The best place to look is a liturgical antiques outlet, such as Fluminalis or Snackers.
    Sometimes you can find something decent on Ebay or Etsy, but best if they have a sound sample, and even there, be careful. I ordered a set of bells from Ebay which had a sound sample, and they sounded different when they arrived. (Actually they sounded just as good if not better, so I wasn't upset, but nevertheless, do be careful.)
    Thanked by 1Chant_Supremacist
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,728
    Oof both the sample and what you got annoy me.
    Thanked by 1Abbysmum
  • davido
    Posts: 1,049
    Those aren’t too bad. Place I subbed recently, the bells sounded like an old rotary telephone ringing.

    A few years ago, my pastor found a paired set somewhere. They are silver in color and ring in complementary tones. Works great for the Easter Vigil Gloria, you ring both at the same time and it really fills up the sound spectrum.
  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,357
    Maybe I'm a philistine, but (even though I definitely don't think those are the most euphonious bells I've ever heard) I think they're fine. If you can find a terrific set somewhere, then that's great, but I wouldn't refuse to use those bells or anything like that.
  • Abbysmum
    Posts: 39
    Oof both the sample and what you got annoy me.


    Oof indeed. The sample was okay, but the actual was awful. I will give some leniency to the recording device (bells often don't record well unless you're using higher-end equipment), but the undertones are just... wrong.
    Thanked by 1liampmcdonough
  • francis
    Posts: 10,997
    I don’t if Malmark does liturgical bells, but are a very reputable biz in the handbell industry.

    They are in my back yard… and if you are truly serious about a “superset”, I could make a custom instrument carved out of oak with select bells…. (Any number of bells you wish) … We can choose the chord tones to our own specification.
  • Aaron
    Posts: 99
    Years ago my pastor purchased for the parish a very nice but relatively cheap set of Sanctus bells. They sounded terrible so I replaced the bells with real handbells from malmark and attached the new bells in place of the old bells. Knowing the minor third is so prevalent in dialogue chants, I chose stacked minor thirds. C, Eb, F, Ab
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen Marc Cerisier Bri
  • Marc Cerisier
    Posts: 560
    Probably not an idea that would be universally appreciated here, but I personally enjoy the practice at Notre Dame in Paris where there are three large bells in the ceiling that are rung at these times. Many of the bells I've experienced sound like a phone ringing—which completely jars me out of the moment.
    Thanked by 1Reval
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,440
    You could repurpose some nice-sounding zimbelstern bells?
    Thanked by 3Marc Cerisier CHGiffen Bri
  • francis
    Posts: 10,997
    Years ago my pastor purchased for the parish a very nice but relatively cheap set of Sanctus bells. They sounded terrible so I replaced the bells with real handbells from malmark and attached the new bells in place of the old bells. Knowing the minor third is so prevalent in dialogue chants, I chose stacked minor thirds. C, Eb, F, Ab
    Shucks, thought I had an original idea… they also make zymbelstern bells.

    I’m willing to do this for anybody who is interested.

    Here’s an example of my hand carved Crotalus

    DCC94A1E-0CC5-491A-8C92-121448F5A56E.jpeg
    1920 x 2560 - 970K
    Thanked by 1Bri
  • Reval
    Posts: 192
    "Probably not an idea that would be universally appreciated here, but I personally enjoy the practice at Notre Dame in Paris where there are three large bells in the ceiling that are rung at these times. Many of the bells I've experienced sound like a phone ringing—which completely jars me out of the moment."
    In my city there is an older parish church (120 ish years old) and they ring the bells in the belfry at the consecration. The funny thing is that the bell voicing is the same as the vintage NBC chimes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_chimes
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,658
    eBay.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,440
    ...in the belfry...
    In times long past bells in the belfry were rung everywhere at the elevations at mass to advertise to all that the Lord was newly present. I have put several priests up to having done likewise.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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