Disign & History

The History of Grace Note Windchimes

In 1982 musician Jeff Kile was living in a rural Louisiana tree house and playing music on the street for spare change. Jeff's love for music combined with his
natural surroundings sparked an idea for creating the ultimate windchime. Harmonically tuned aluminum windchimes were already being marketed, but Jeff
envisioned a windchime with a unique suspension design. All of the wind chimes on the market used a similar suspension that utilized string through holes in
the top of the tubes. This suspension technique reduced the resonance of the chimes. By placing pins inside the tubes at the resonant node (the spot on a
vibrating tube that doesn't vibrate) Jeff eliminated the interference of the string against the tubes. This innovative design resulted in longer and clearer
resonance The original Grace Note Windchimes were tuned by ear to notes that Jeff played on his guitar. Encouraged by the sound quality of his windchimes,
Jeff returned to his home state of California and turned to his brother, Mark, for support. With Mark's $300.00 tax return check as a business start up, the
partnership was born. They named the company Grace Note Chimes. In music, the term "grace note" refers to an unwritten musical note that falls between two
existing notes, as in a bent note. A grace note is a musical adornment. It seemed a fitting name for such harmonic windchimes.
During lean early years they assembled windchimes in their parents' barn and spent most of the time on the road, selling Grace Note Chimes at craft shows
around the country. It wasn't long, however, before the amazing sound quality of Grace Note Chimes earned them a loyal following. Grace Note has continued
to prosper through the years. It quickly outgrew the barn as a production site, and moved into a spacious well equipped factory. Many new members have
been added to a growing extended family. The amazing growth and success of Grace Note hasn't come at the cost of the friendly spirit and attention to detail
inherent in a small family business. Grace Note is still a small company with big ideals.

As they celebrate almost twenty years of hard earned luck, Jeff and Mark are ever mindful that the success of Grace Note Chimes is due to your support.
Their dedication to bringing you the most finely crafted and best sounding wind chimes is unwavering.

Let the good chimes toll,
Grace Note Chimes