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Doing my rounds in the UsedClassifieds yet again and this time I couldn't resist! It should be here in my little cave in about 10 days. Has anyone here tried using an actual cow's bell as a cowbell before?

http://www.usedtoronto.com/classified-a ... ique-other

Not that kind! Should be interesting!
Dave

Here it is! Somewhere in Switzerland there is a disgruntled cow looking for her bell...
As a percussion instrument it sounds pretty and nice. It's medium/high sounding with a mellow sound that is all bell and zero overtone. I wouldn't want to use it where high volume is required because the thickness is slightly less than a dime. So far the best sounding beater for it is a brass dinger that I use for my dunun bells, but I'm still experimenting. I'm thinking of taking the bell's own dinger out but I don't know if I should because it might spoil the character of the bell. I won't be letting just anyone grab this bell and start whacking it! I like to share and all but some folks, well..., you know.

Nice bell!
Really very good for African rhythms I could imagine - rather than in Latin contexts.

In many African places I have seen and heard people build and plaz these pretty heavy bells.
And the cows walk around without those campanas...

You're probably right about the African context. I think there are bells for every occasion in many parts of Africa!

The mellow sound of this bell would be ideal for an acoustic setting or maybe jazz. It has a lot of potential and I can't wait to try it out at a practise sometime soon!