Tuning questions and some more besides ...

[Robert Neville <rneville@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A note of thanks to harp-l participants for some very interesting chat 
around here recently.  I, too, am a harp player -- mired somewhere in the 
low intermediate range, I would guess -- and highly interested in all the 
harp talk I can find.  Thanks to several people who encouraged me to try 
this.

Encouraged by some of you I got a Lee Oskar tool kit and have successfully 
fixed several harps which I had given up on.  Thanks.  It feels great to 
get some control over what's inside.  But a few questions have come up.  
Maybe someone out there wouldn't mind sending an answer or two:

First question:  I tuned up a very flat 4 draw on my A Lee Oskar.  Came 
up fine and worked for about ten minutes of practice and then dropped 
WAY down to about a semi-tone above 4 blow.  Did I do something wrong?

Second question:  I have heard people on harp-l mention reed 
replacement.  Does anyone have advice on this?  

Third question:  I am studying Steve Baker's book.  The advice he give on
tuning systems now seems to me to be very hard to follow.  He evidently is
able to tune to within accuracies of 1-2 Hz and sometimes even .5 hz. 
Using the Korg AT-12, which is very similar to the tuner illustrated in
the book, I find that it is not very easy to get that close.  For one
thing, the natural variation in the pitch of the harp seems to be close to
1 hz. For another, the meter is pretty hard to read to that degree of
accuracy.  It has a very small scale.  Does anyone else find these
suggested tunings unrealistic?

Final question:  Does anyone know of a good CANADIAN mail-order source 
for Lee Oskar reed plates.  No place in Vancouver seems to carry a good 
supply.  And what should I expect to pay for them?  The special order 
price here seems to be $19 Canadian and, since a new LO goes for $29 
Canadian, that seems high to me.  I know of several US suppliers, but 
it's so much less hassle to stay above the border.  


Thanks very much, 

Robert

rneville@xxxxxxxxxxxxx