Re: High notes

["Charles Williams CS" <CWILLIAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Regarding the CX 12 high notes. It does take more sensitive playing but I also
find that the high note reeds can be reset in order to get them to
play easier. They are very small reeds and I will pluck them to get a very
slight upward curve but you have to be very gentle when doing this as you can
easily break them. A good way to test your skill on this is try it on an older
diatonic in a higher register, say a key of E or F or even one of the liitle
Huang 4 hole harps which are very inexpensive. The good news is that the
highest reeds do not have valvea/wind savers so you do not have to worry about
messing them up.

Given you have a brand new harp and probably don't want to mess with it, you
may want to break it in which I find is needed especially with the higher
notes in most harps and this may in fact be just another form of the above
plucking method. Try to sound the note with light to medium breath pressure
and sustain it. If really disatisfied send it back to Hohner with a detailed
explanation of what you don't like (which reeds are the problem) and maybe
they will just replace the entire set of reed plates. It is possible that you
got a bad set of brand new reeds. I would hope with all the hoopla about the
CX 12 that Hohner engineered somewhat easier playing high note reeds? I guess
that is why I stick with the 270's-mine work.

Also the reed could have very minute burrs on the side or tip. You can see
them with a magnifying glass. Hope this helps.