Re: XB40 problems.

[Pat Missin <pat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fernando wrote:
>
>If you are going to fix it yourself, the above steps are a good start. if
>you are taking it to a technician, remember that, if the reed is really
>dead, it might be very dificult to get a replacement reed. 

It shouldn't be a problem for any reasonably well stocked repair
person and I believe you can now order single reeds from Michael
Timler.

>Unless the XB
>reeds are interchangeable wit chrom reeds, which I think is unlikely. 

Actually, many of them could be replaced with reeds from a Hohner
chromatic. The reeds in the first four holes of a C XB-40 are the same
size as those from holes 2 - 5 of a short slot Hohner chromatic, or
holes 4 - 7 of a long slot chrom.

However, (assuming that the reed really does need to be replaced) the
5 hole reeds on a C XB-40 are a fraction narrower than the reeds of
the same length found on a Hohner chromatic, but you could replace it
with a reed from hole 8 of a long slot 364 or 365.

>By the
>way, has anybody measured teh slots of the XB, as Pat has done in his
>slots.txt in Altered States?

>From what I've seen so far, they use similar reedplates to the Hohner
Knittlinger series - the MB Full Concert, Auto-Valve, etc. These have
similar lengths to the reeds used in Hohner chroms, but higher pitched
ones are a little narrower than chromatic reeds of the same pitch. It
might be possible to reduce the width of a reed to fit, but that's
quite a bit or work and it's tough to get it just right. 

 -- Pat.

PS - so much for carefully "breaking in " reeds to make them last
longer...