Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner New Wittner Metronome Croaked

Has this happened to you? It's the traditional wooden pyramid type. I bought it about a year ago (the warrenty is a year) and it's just decided it doesn't want to run anymore. I've used it about three hours a day straight since I bought it. I'm debating whether to try another Wittner, make do with my "vintage" ebay finds, or try to have this one repaired. Advice??

That's pretty bad. My old wind-up metronome lasted about 30 years before it croaked. It slowly lost its ability to swing really slow.

They must have put a warranty chip inside! I've heard that about a lot of things that come with warranties like that. They last just long enough until the warranty runs out.!

I wouldn't bother to replace this with a like model, nor have it repaired. Mine went in the trash, but that had a plastic case and not a wooden one like yours. If I were you, I would make it into a decorative item and put it on a shelf in the music room.

Instead I would look for an inexepensive digital unit. My metronome is about $29 or $35 at a local music store, and requires a battery about once a year. The unit is also loud enough for me to hear while playing and counting out loud (Yes I still do that!).

When looking for metronomes, see you can try them so you can hear what they sound like and to see if they're easy to use. There's nothing worse than buying something you can't hear, and too difficult to set.

John

I have an interesting solution:
while my friend here bothers with a normal wooden metronome million years old, I work with a metronome on another keyboard - electronic and it never fails me.
my friend.. well she is anxious everytime she sees me practicing with an electronic metronome. her face was so funny when I told her to stop using that million years old thing.

Actually it had been my experience that the wooden ones usually did last a million years - at least the ones from when I was a kid and before. I'm just very disappointed in this one. The one I'm actually using now was made about 1890.

That's what you get for using one of those darn things, Frycek.

Teachum - who thinks hers looks lovely sitting on the side of her piano.

Frycek, I bought a Wittner when I re-took-up piano playing a couple of months ago. I tried to get one as close as possible to my childhood metronome and it's quite likely the same as the one you have. I have to admit that when I opened the box I thought it seemed more cheaply made than they used to be - I was horrifed to see that some parts were PLASTIC!

At least I have another ten months of use to look forward to.

Or could it be that your Wittner has gone on strike after being made to tick for thirty hours in every day?

I'm hoping mine was some sort of mutant abberation. From now on I'm sticking to the ebay oldies. At least they're relatively cheap.

I have heard that mechanical metronomes can be slightly inaccurate. When checked with modern testing equipment (I think a radar gun was used), one arc was slightly longer in time than the other.

Does anyone know any facts about this?

Digitals are not prone to this.

True. I had one of those pocket Wittners, and I'd have to shim up one side or the other with a few pieces of paper to get it to tick evenly. I prefer an electronic unit for just that reason. However, one has to listen to the electronic unit before buying. Some have a very sharp, penetrating click that is unpleasant to listen to.

Frycek,

If you are in the market for a nice digital, look at the Sabine models. The one I have is loud enough for me to hear above the piano. It's around $30.00, which wasn't too bad to handle.

John

I've got the same metronome I used in high school. It was an electric one rather than mechanical. Now my son gets good use out of it.

My Maelzel metronome is a decorative objet d'art on my stereo cabinet.

I use a Matrix MR-500 Quartz metronome which can snuggle into a tiny corner in my briefcase, and it runs for years on a 9-volt battery. At $29.95, given its apparent durability and reliability, it was an excellent investment.

Regards,