[TPIN] Bell Bow (NOT Bilbo Baggins!) Bends

[Jon]

I have two bells made in the early '70s and they're both "incorrect," 
according to this theory. Kind of hard to believe these rounder bells 
weren't purposely made that way. That's an awful long time between quality 
control checks...

Jon

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Anderson" <manderson at okcu.edu>
To: "TPIN" <tpin at tpin.okcu.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2008 7:21 PM
Subject: Re: [TPIN] Bell Bow (NOT Bilbo Baggins!) Bends


> While I think it is true that the post-strike horns are really good, this
> particular change in design isn't a conscious harkening back to an old
> design... Actually, during the strike they went over every aspect of
> production and found that the jig they were using to do the bell bends was
> way off and had been for many years. So, they built a new jig based on the
> actual specifications of the correct Bach bell bend. I also think that the
> way the bell tail fits into the first valve casing is more critical than 
> the
> actual bend. That misaligned jig caused them to often not be square at 
> this
> critical juncture. This is one of the common things the guys who do Bach
> conversions and customizing do
>
> Apparently, they also got rid of some dead weight workers during the 
> strike
> and only hired back those who were really good at what they do. So, it
> should be no surprise that quality control is up at Bach.
>
> MA