Originally Posted by
randyjawa
I have to admit that at first this hocus pocus magic musical bell thing left me a bit skeptical.
Imagine me, trying to tell myself that my ears are delicate instruments, capable of differentiating between closely similar musical notes. Good grief, such nonsense is unheard of, or so I've heard.
Not so hard to believe. Ears are extreeeeemely good receptors. But as Zaphod points out, not everyone is, ah, perceptive enough to make use of them. If you couldn't actually hear pitch differences then you wouldn't be able to understand speech.
Of course the physics of a vibrating string says the higher the tension the higher the pitch. Tuning stringed instruments such as pianos, guitars, and banjos all work this way (though some might question whether a banjo is a musical instrument
).
Originally Posted by
marley mission
on another note - as much as i would like to wheel build - its gotta be just as easy to pick up a new rear at my LBS - they have em for $40
Building a wheel isn't so hard. Just be careful and work meticulously. Sheldon Brown has a great page describing how to do it. Use the end of the threading on the spoke as a reference point to begin with all the spokes the same, then turn them all by identical amounts.
If you can use the same hub and rim the cost of spokes might be less than a wheel. You might want to re-use them for style's sake. A new rim will drive the cost up a bit though. I've heard some not so likable things about some of the inexpensive hubs used in cheap wheels though. But I have no first-hand experience with them.