Re: Thicker reedplates = louder?

[Bobbie Giordano <bobg@xxxxxxxxx>]

Derrick wrote:
>
>Here we go again Vern,

Got that right! 

>I should know better than this.

That, too!!  [Or maybe rather, "Me too!"] ;)

Pat replied:

>I would also be very surprised if most people couldn't tell the
>difference between a regular and a double thick reedplate, all other
>things being equal.

But, he conceded where thickness differences were minute...

>I suspect that Vern is right in this case and a lot people (perhaps 
>most of them) wouldn't be able to hear the difference.

Yet, let me describe an observation...  Several times I have had my back to
Douglas Tate as he was noodling around with one Renaissance or another,
sometimes even in another room one flight up, and have remarked to him,
"You're playing that Renny with the Hard Bopper plates in it, yes?" and he
would confirm I was correct.  A fact that has led him to prefer using Mellow
Tone reedplates in his own Renaissance.

These illustrations point more, in fact, to Pat's other comment that...

>The difference is also not just a simple volume difference - doubling
>the thickness of the reedplate also changes the tone and the response
>of the harp.

The quality of the sound is different to me, and Doug feels a playability
difference as well as hearing one.

>In Vern's defence (and I'm not sure that he really needs me to defend
>him), his experience is (correct me if I am wrong, Vern) mostly with
>standard C chromatics. The difference in sound between thinner and
>thicker plates is more noticeable with unvalved reeds than with valved
>reeds, as well as being more noticeable in lower keys. 

And in my own defense of Vern, [for which he probably also has little need --
and I hope my dear friend and sparring partner doesn't faint at the notion of
it,  :)] I'm not so sure I totally agree with Pat on his latter point.  I do
believe the difference in plate thickness is more easily perceived in lower
keys, or even in just the lower pitches on the same compared plates.

However, I don't think it naturally follows that one may more readily notice
sonic differences between thinner and thicker plates of an unvalved harmonica
than a valved one.  I'd be interested in why you suggest that, Pat.  It might
make more sense to me if you mean to compare instruments that are
additionally unalike due to their comb configuration, as in between a
diatonic 10-holer and a chromatic instrument with its slide and arrangement
of vertically divided chambers.  In that case, there is ostensibly the
ability for the diatonic's two reedplates to be engaged in the sound
production, whereas the chromatic involves but one plate at a time.

On the other hand, there is the comparison between a dual reed system and an
isolated [valved] reed system of sound production to consider.  Yet, all else
being essentially equal, the isolated reed is going to be louder than the
dual reeds' sound, due to the concentration of energy in one reed instead of
the dissipation [and loss] of energy by a secondary reed's action.

Therefore, two alternate conclusions seem more plausible to me... one being
the idea that the two differing aspects between such instruments may cancel
each other out; i.e., that of thicker or thinner reedplate involvement in the
soundmaking process, [the first louder than the second,] and that of the
contributions made by dual or isolated reed systems, [the second louder than
the first.]  In such circumstances, the perceptibility of sonic difference
may be reduced, perhaps even very difficult.  [As usual, Vern, you will note
I did not say "impossible"! :)]

However, the same such comparison, owing to the inherently louder isolated,
valved reed sound, with its greater concentration on the fundamental of the
note being played, might instead actually make it easier, [or deceptively
seemingly so,] to discern its greater volume on a thicker reedplate.  Might
not there also be the possibility of a greater degree of enhancement of the
volume of the valved reed on a thicker plate than a dual reed action on its
thicker plate?  I have to admit it's only a speculation, but if that were the
case, then it might in fact be that the valved instrument with thicker plates
is perceivably louder than the unvalved instrument with thicker plates, not
the opposite.

The stuff further experiments are made of, Derrick!  ;)

Bobbie

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