Re: Thicker reedplates/Projection

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Reeders,      
                     'PartyMan' is talking about the same thing I as I was in my inquiry to Pat Missin about the
similarities of music box & harp:
...."and when I found these things I mentioned of the guitar to be real and true , what I thought I believed to be the
same in the harmonica's louder or maybe clearer and more dominant sounding with the added mass of the thicker plates
seems to gain more credence to me ."
        So what is being suggested here is that added mass causes greater resonance and thus greater reverberation.
         However, what Vern and Pat say contradicts this. What they say, and I believe them, is that the harmonica reed
creates sound in the way that a siren does: not through the sound of its own vibration, but through its action of
chopping the airwaves. It is a very subtle difference, but I am beginning to see it.
          Just think of an old style siren (police, air-raid circa 1940s-1960s); the whirling drum is not producing the
sound through vibration of its own matter, but by the way it effects the air that passes through it.
          I am still unclear how this differs (or differs not?) from a flute, pennywhistle etc., but I see how it is
not like a guitar string or a music box.
          Therefore, adding mass to increase resonance of a free reed will not increase volume.
           Therefore, this is not the reason that double reed plates increase volume or loudness. If it really works
(and I haven't had the opportunity of trying a doubled reed plate yet) then it must be to do with the increased
compression caused by the reed being confined for more of its travel, thus equating with a finer clearance between reed
and slot, or with the rigidity  of the reeds attachment, which might mean that the reed transfers less of its movement
to the plate, and thus vibrates more effectively itself. Either or both.
            Anyhow, if what Vern and Pat say about the way a free reed works is right, then any real increase in
loudness can have nothing to do with adding mass as an aid to reverberation.  
             Just one more thing, Pat and Vern: why are steel reeds (as in a concertina, accordion etc.) so much louder
than brass?
            I think I'll take Marion Spiers advice and go for the megaphone. If it was good enough for Deford Bailey
its good enough for
Your's Truly,
Rick Dempster