Adjust your Cuckoo Clock Gong

If your cuckoo clock doesn't sound quite the same as those heard on our YouTube movies, the first thing you'll want to do is to check the position of your gong.

Before every cuckoo call, there is traditionally a gong that is struck by a mechanical hammer. This adds depth of sound to the cuckoo clock call. If your hammer is missing the gong, or if the hammer is too close to the gong, you might get a "sick" sounding cuckoo. This gong can be easily adjusted!



In the picture above, you can see the back of a cuckoo clock. There is a hole at the center of the back side through which you can see some black wires. This is the gong and the hammer. Seen from the inside, you can see the gong...



First, be sure that the packaging paper is removed from this spiral gong. Then, replace the back piece into it's slot. Check out our setup videos for more information on removing packaging and replacing the back piece.

After the back piece is set in place, you should be able to see both the hammer and the gong. The hammer should be positioned a few millimeters above the gong when at rest. If the hammer is too close, below, or caught behind the gong you won't have a healthy or resonant sound to your gong. You can carefully adjust this by moving the gong wire up or down so that the hammer is able to strike the gong properly. Be sure to move the gong VERY SLIGHTLY, up or down for maximum effect.



Be sure to check out our NEW index for tips and instructions for proper care of your clock!

North Coast Imports's /design Line featured in ReadyMade Mag!

Thanks to the creative people at ReadyMade Magazine for noticing our ClassicSpace cuckoo from our NEW /design line.

The Rack Must Fall!

How does a cuckoo know how many times to call? Why is my clock only calling once when the hands say 3:00?

These are great questions, and the ingenious works of a mechanical clock can do it, but a few things have to be in proper adjustment. Here are some things to watch out for to keep your clock working, and keep your cuckoo calling the right number.

First, check the hands.

We already have an article about the proper alignment of a cuckoo clocks hands.



Second, check the rack.



Here you can see a picture of one of our cuckoo clocks with the dial removed. Circled you see a black, sickle-shaped part that we call the "rack." This part has a certain number of teeth on it that are counted by the brass pin to the right of the part.

Sometimes, through excessive handing upside down, this rack can get stuck in a position that is too high for the pin to count its teeth. In the picture below, you are looking at the clock mechanism from the back. You can see the top part of the rack as a black hump, sticking out of the top of the mechanism.



In the picture above, the rack is in a position too high for its teeth to be counted. With the rack in this position, the clock will only cuckoo once every hour, no matter the time.

This can happen due to excessive handing upside down, or sometimes during shipping.

You can see in this picture where the rack is lower and in the correct position, as viewed from the back:



The good news is that the clock can be fixed with a simple adjustment so that the clock will cuckoo the correct amount of times every hour. Simply take a long object, like a pencil, and push down on the hump of the top of the rack so that it falls below the top of the brass mechanism. This will allow the rack to fall so that its teeth can be counted.



Push down in the direction of the arrow.

After you have completed this procedure, your clock should begin counting more than once call every hour. You may have to readjust your hands to match up with the mechanism after performing this adjustment. Refer to this article again to make sure that the hands are set correctly.

Bahnhäusle

The Bahnhäusle (sometimes "Bahnwächterhäusle") design has been an incredibly popular design since 1850. Friedrich Eisenlohr of Furtwangen, Germany first submitted the design as part of a contest for the Grand Duchy of Baden. His inspiration was a railroad guard's house overrun by vines and leaves.

More on How Cuckoo Clocks are Made

Meet Christophe from Robert H. Uhrenmanufaktur.

He's a very special clockmaker in the Black Forest in Germany. He produces our very special models #8365 and #8366. There are very few of these clocks made and each is made by hand - one at a time.

Here is a pictorial on the process of carving the special Long Bahnhäusle and Gothic style cuckoo clocks.

How Cuckoo Clocks are Made!

I was glad to see that someone uploaded this documentary to YouTube. Fast Forward to 5:39:



Most of the shots are from our very own Rombach und Haas!!



...of course, the carvings aren't done from "pine or plywood." Black Forest cuckoo clocks are carved from Linden wood.

Here are more pictures from one of our specialty Black Forest cuckoo clock makers:









This was for a custom made clock for the Prince of Baden. Below, the carver is seen constructing our special Long Bahnhäusle cuckoo clocks:

Cuckoo Clock Design Contest

Images via Designboom

We found these great new concepts for cuckoo clocks online which were created as part of a contest for forest conservation.



Designer Naoto Fukawasa created a beautiful cuckoo clock using timber removed
from over-planted forests. The project was done in conjunction with Isetan, a Japanese department store, and More Trees, an organization that works with forest conservation in Japan and overseas. But the fun didn't stop with just one cuckoo clock. The display consisted of 50 customized interpretations of the clock by 50 different artists and designers from all over Japan. The whimsical and amazing clocks are enough to stop anyone in their tracks.



[via Treehugger and Designboom]



Don't forget about our popular design cuckoo clocks here.



The ClassicSpace will soon be featured in ReadyMade magazine in early 2010. Stay Tuned...

A Great Old Video of the Black Forest Clock Industry

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Alas, there are no more producers of European mechanical Anniversary Clocks. So many of these fine arts no longer exist. BUT, you can see a woman making a mechanical alarm clock that looks very similar to our very popular Sternreiter Alarm Clock! Quality mechanical items like these are very rare these days. We are very pleased to still be able to offer them. Contact your local clock dealer and ask about our Sternreiter mechanical alarm clocks.

Speaking of Clock Peddlers...

Justin just contributed a great post on his new antique clock peddler figurine. I particularly like the porcelain dial on his piece, and the fact that the man is carrying extra pendulums.



The clock peddler is a character that has all but disappeared from our lexicon of memories. Clock peddlers in the Black Forest used to carry their wares on a large backpack.

After toiling the winter months away in a crowded workshop over his wares, a clock peddler greeted warmer months by wandering over the hills and through storybook forests hundreds of years ago, matching painted dials and interesting animated scenes to the customers' choice of mechanisms.



This is a particularly unique example. The figurine above is a new hand-made piece that's still available. Housed inside the hand-carved body is a tiny mechanical mechanism with bellows and a multi-pitch whistle that plays a tune on demand. The mechanism is made by hand in Germany and is completely mechanical without any use of speakers or electronics. These are mechanical-musical instruments.

An Interesting Castle Cuckoo Clock

Here's something one of our bloggers found on the interwebs...





"Black Forest automaton, cuckoo, trumpet player, cylinder music player, circa 1890. Each quarter the cuckoo sings the quarters, every hour the trumpet player tells the time and a melody is played. HxWxD 83x64x37.50 cm / circa 33x25x15 inches."

Be sure to check out our castle-style cuckoos: