Major Brands of Handbells:
Sizes and Weights for Diatonic Pitches

All (most) weights are given to the closest ounce. This occasionally leads to misleading results due to rounding. For example, one might wonder how the Malmark G#7 can be a full ounce (14%) heavier than both the G7 and A7. The answer is: it isn't. The G#7 is actually 7.6 oz, which is not really that much heavier than the G7 (7.4 oz, 3%) or the A7 (7.1 oz, 7%). Because only the Malmark measurements take this degree of precision, however, I am rounding everything to the nearest ounce to make comparisons easier, and to preserve my sanity.

You can also see these numbers plotted into graphs, in one of three ways: by weight, by diameter, or as a ratio of diameter to weight. Kinda interesting.

The astute reader may notice that occasionally (especially in the lower bells, such as the Schulmerich A2) a bell actually weighs less than a bell pitched higher (in this case, the B2). Why would that be?

Carl Zimmerman offers the following explanation:

I've been told (and it's quite evident on our Whitechapel basses) that the reason for this is that two (or sometimes even three) consecutive semitones are cast from the same size mold. Since the pitch is primarily a function of the inside diameter (on handbells as well as on tower bells), more metal is removed from the casting to get the lower note, thus leaving it the same size on the outside but larger on the inside, therefore thinner & of course lighter in weight. Curiously, it doesn't seem to have a perceptible effect on the timbre (at least to my ears).

Here's a little exercise for you: given the measurements above, can you find the "break points" between castings? That is, can you find the points where the manufacturers stop using one casting and start using another? (Hint: look for places in the chart where there is a small jump in pitch but a large jump in weight and/or diameter.)

The chart also points out the dramatic differences in size and weight between the bronze and aluminum bells. Roughly speaking, aluminum bells only weigh as much as a bronze bell pitched a sixth higher (eg, aluminum D2 and bronze B2) while being as wide as a bell pitched as much as a sixth lower (eg, aluminum E3 and bronze G2).

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