A bell’s perceived pitch arises from virtual pitch even when its prime is absent.

Evidence

The prime is the normally perceived note of the bell, but there can be perceptual ambiguities, since the tuning of a bell is an art that involves careful thinning of various areas of the bell in order to bring its frequency components into closer harmonic relationship. There are bells that might have their tierce component (usually on a major third) tuned closer to a minor third for artistic reasons and others that have some components missing completely. The perceived pitch of a bell is related to the relative amplitude of the frequency components and how closely they resemble a harmonic set. The prime does not have to be present, since a virtual pitch will be perceived (see Section 3.2.1). — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1315

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the ‘prime’ and ‘tierce’ components of bell tuning and how bell pitch is perceived.
• QUESTION: How does bell tuning by thinning specific areas shift the harmonic relationship? Worth chasing the physical mechanism.