replace or repair Late 1960's Colonial of Zeeland Chimes

[Haller]

My mother in law has a late 1960s Colonial of Zeeland reproduction a Norman French Grandfather Clock circa 1760.

It was purchased at Sloan’s on Fifth avenue sometime between 1965 and 1970 by her father. In a recent move, three of the five chime rods broke. Other than that, the clock is still in working order.

It is a Westminster chime movement labeled as #44. What are the possibilities for getting the chimes back in to working condition? Either replacing the broken rods, or the whole chime block? Are there any antique considerations, or things that should not be done?

Can you suggest a national company or person in the Denver area who could help me?

Your knowledgeable input would be greatly appreciated. :smile:

[shutterbug]

Replacing the individual rods would be the cheapest way to go but you'd need to "tune" them. You can buy complete rod sets that are pretuned and ready to insert. Check out this site to see if what they have will fit your clock.
Timesavers (click here) (http://www.timesavers.com)

[Eckmill]

The most practical solution involves replacing the whole chime rod assembly which quite possibly is available from local clock parts suppliers such as Mountain High (?), TimeSavers, or Ronell.

Replacing individual rods is sometimes possible but mechanically difficult and frought with mishap and out-of-tune.

Replacing an indivdual rod looks simple but it ain't unless you are lucky. They're always stuck and in trying to loosen one often results in breaking the screwdriver slot in the brass thimble.

[Haller]

I have been reading around the forum, and I am unsure whether I should replace the rods, or get a new block.

Mostely I wanted to find someplace to purchase parts. The timesavers site has both replacement rods and new blocks. I will likely remove the old block and try to remove the old rods. if it seems like to much, I will buy a new block.

Thanks again. I will keep you posted with waht I end up doing, and how it turns out.

[shutterbug]

That's not such a bad idea, Haller. If you succeed in getting them out, you can save the expense of a new block. As you have seen, you can buy tuned sets too, so that won't be an issue to you :smile: