Glockenspiel bar dampening

[MStaples]

I'd like to hear other's experience with Glock bar dampening.  My goal is to dampen the sustain, but maintain a good sounding bar to avoid dissonance of two or more bars ringing together during a played passage.  Using one hand to dampen bars doesn't seem like a good solution except in a few cases.  What has worked for me is using foam strips with adhesive backing (designed for weatherproofing windows and doors) 1/4" - 3/8" in width, 1/4" tall, length cut as needed.  I did not have good results sticking small pieces of it to the ends of the bars, but acceptable results were had by placing bits beside the pins (in the nodal area) of the bar.  Not a very tidy solution, but it works.  Anyone else have experience with this?

MS

[Jim McCarthy]

Hi Michael
You could try cutting a thin strip of thin felt - say 1cm or 1/4 inch for each row of bars. Lay it just outside the row of pegs on the ends of the bars. Some of the classroom style metalophones have a felt topped dampening bar placed in a similar position to a vibraphone's. They are simply operated by a small hand lever - in the case of a chromatic glock, you would probably drill through the end timber to pass a handle axis through.

Anyone else? - I'd be interested in the ideas and experiences of others here!
Jim