Abstract
Many ancient Chinese bells, by virtue of their oval shape, sound two distinctly different tones, depending upon where they are struck. These so‐called sui and gu tones usually differ in pitch by about a minor third. The vibrational modes and sound radiation from a carefully dimensioned modern copy of a Chou dynasty (1030—221 B.C.) bell in the Dutch National Carillon Museum have been studied. The lowest modes, and many of the higher ones as well, occur in pairs, with one member having an antinode near the sui strike point and the other near the gu strike point. The frequency separation of these doublets is determined by the shape of the bell. The modal shapes, determined by holographic interferometry, are similar to those observed in round church bells, but with more mixed modes due to the greater damping.
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