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(12 votes) 
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haha 🙂... yes and it just eventually winds down. but can be reset and wound back up for another go when needed.
mostly I keep the bell off. just finding more useful now
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I have a beautiful old Seth Thomas metronome, made of mahogany. It’s been around here forever but I don’t remember how it got here. It appears to be in very good condition and seems to work fine.
I don’t use it much because it seems to swing the rhythm. I understand that you’re supposed to use a regular beat (no swing) when practicing, so I normally use an electronic metronome (MetroTimer) on my phone.
As I think about it, I’m not really sure that this metronome is swinging the rhythm. Maybe it’s just me. (I do know that I have a tendency to swing the rhythm when I’m playing.) And I don’t know how to determine it it’s swinging or not. Tilting it changes the swing, of course. But how do I measure the regularity of its beat when it is sitting on an apparently level surface? After all, I’m trying to be a musician, not an engineer!
Maybe I’ll just forget about all that and start using this Seth Thomas metronome. It might be more interesting and fun than the soulless electronic one!
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that one is nice!
You bring up some good points... how do we know that what we are using is calibrated for lack of a better term. and thats any external device wooden or electronic.
I thing large offsets on one swing of pendulum would be noticed.. small ones maybe not so much.
maybe a good thing to just play with one a bit and swap up to another... idk 🙂
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I've just ordered a Wittner piccolino from EBay. It looks like a shop is selling one with a scuffed box as though it were used, but I may be being over-optimistic. It doesn't have a key - the winder is flush with the case, so it might fit in my viola case.
Andrew
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Gordon Shumway said
I've just ordered a Wittner piccolino from EBay. It looks like a shop is selling one with a scuffed box as though it were used, but I may be being over-optimistic. It doesn't have a key - the winder is flush with the case, so it might fit in my viola case.https://wittner-gmbh.de/wittne.....ino_e.html
we were in an antique shop, I guess its called, about a month ago. Many sections of the store that are setup by different vendors selling various schtuff. I came upon one couple setting up and their store was music oriented. Band posters, old records, old instruments that would be used for wall art.. but they had many old wax cylinder recordings and the machine to play them. that interested me and from it got a conversation going. I asked if he had any wittner metronomes and he said he had just sold 5 to a person. they were wittners because i asked specifically.. he said yeah he knew what i was asking for and said thats one item he never has for very long.. always sells quickly.
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ABitRusty said
I asked if he had any wittner metronomes and he said he had just sold 5 to a person. they were wittners because i asked specifically.. he said yeah he knew what i was asking for and said thats one item he never has for very long.. always sells quickly.
That person will be selling them on EBay!
Andrew
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EXACTLY!
what came to mind.
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The sad thing is, there's nothing much inside a Wittner. The mechanism is trivial. I can't remember offhand if you can see it from outside, but if you can't the bottom plate is easy to remove. I put WD40 in them occasionally, but since I've had one of them for more than 50 years and I've only oiled it twice at most, it probably didn't need it.
Andrew
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true.. i think the desire at this point to have wittner is because they seem rare and old maybe. idk. do they still make the wood ones? too lazy to look back through the post. anyway, its a want and not a need at this point. my tempi does the trick
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Violinspiration has an excellent (free) online metronome you can bookmark - really LOVE the extra features!
In case someone wants to venture beyond 'tick' & 'tock'...
There's quite a few polyrhythm metronome apps available, but here's a simple (free, online to bookmark) POLYRHYTHM METRONOME I've tried out on my laptop - with just enough features to really have fun with 2 (or more) rhythms. 😏
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ABitRusty said
do they still make the wood ones? too lazy to look back through the post.
I know. It doesn't take me long to forget what I said a page or two back.
They used to do solid oak, mahogany or walnut, unless I misunderstood the blurb.
Nowadays they only do solid walnut, and they cost £190.
They still do plenty of veneered/stained effect wood ones.
https://wittner-gmbh.de/mobil/.....mobil.html
They call the stained ones "solid wood" - it's the word "genuine" you need to search for on the following page: -
Andrew
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As people have probably said, there's Korg and others. There's the internet.
And there are metronome apps for your smartphones.
Personal choice comes into it. I have a friend who hates anything but wooden pyramids, as they are part of the furniture. Whereas my teacher thinks silent ones serve a purpose, as you can internalise the beat more. I personally am finding it best to use the noisy wooden pyramid, otherwise it's too easy for me to ignore the beat.
My Piccolino arrived yesterday. Seems new (apart from some orangey dust inside the perspex cover), but it's black and the beaten-up box it came in was for an ivory one, but it's nice and petite and will fit in a lot of corners in your luggage or violin case.
Andrew
Verified human - the ignominy!
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