The 47-bell carillon at the top of the Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower is complete but the work isn’t finished.
Experts from the Verdin Company in Cincinnati will return to Jefferson yet this month to work on three bells “that are having issues,” county engineer Wade Weiss told the county supervisors June 12.
The bells at the top of each of the three clusters on the outside of the bell frame – the D, E-flat and F in the octave above middle C – need some work. Weiss explained that the weight of the striker in each bell isn’t quite right, causing them to ring at the wrong volume.
Verdin staff is waiting for the carillon to get “loosened up” before coming, Weiss said. Then the crew will replace the strikers, install larger electrical coils and adjust the voltage to the bells.
The “Mahanay Maestros,” as the local musicians who play the carillon have been dubbed, will notice a difference, but most people won’t.
