Re: Hering´s Professional . 40 Chromatic Harmonica and Vintage 40

["ludo beckers" <lazylew2@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ben Bouman wrote:
> The reason , why I round the corners of the reeds is that I noticed that
> others brands had reeds where the corners were already rounded.Fernando
> Breslau told me that the machines , used by hering to produce reeds, had
to
> be renwed and since than they can't produce reeds anymore with rounded
> corners.

I thought seeing slightly rounded corners on the Filisko harp pictures as
well.
Guess it's worth a try - good enough for Filisko = certainly good enough for
me )

> I only do this on my vintage harps.

Why not all?

I use nail file (diamond tip) , I push
> the reed a bit upwards from the underside of the reedplate and than , with
> only a few strokes, take off a little of the corners(angle=45 degrees
> instead of 90).
> Just check the hohner reeds to see how much material you have to remove.
> It seems to work better for overblows but I haven't compared a harp with
and
> without the rounded corners yet.
> I gap my reeds very low and keep the profile as flat as possible. The
curve
> starts on 2/3 of the length of the reed(hole 1 ) to 4/5 of the length on
the
> reed for hole 6. For hole 7 to 10 I hardly curve the reeds.
> On keys, higher than C , I try to curve the reeds as little as possible.

I haven't got the knack of that curving technique down at all.

> Did you try the tipscooping as shown on a picture that Fernando showed a
few
> weeks ago? I think this could work well for overblows...

It does - I plan to do it to all my harps when I find the time.
I still have to experiment more to see which is best - only the blow side (à
la Oystler), draw side (à la Pat Missin), or both.
So far I think both sides is best - the tipscoop on the draw side being
slightly smaller.

Ludo