Re: [Harp-L] long slot D harp?

[Pat Missin <pat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm pretty sure I have repaired more D harps than any other key of
diatonic and I have heard many people complain that their Ds seem to
be much shorter lived than their other key harps. 

However, my own main standard tuned D harp is a Lee Oskar that I
bought in 1986, making it 18 years old. It has had literally hundreds
of hours playing time and although it has been retuned a few times, I
have yet to replace a reed on it.

I have built quite a few long slot D harps for people (actually
rebuilding the reedplates, rather than simply tuning up a C harp a
couple of semitones). Some folks seemed to wear them out just as fast
as regular D harps, whilst others claimed that they were noticeably
longer lived. Likewise some said that the response of the long slot D
was not as good as the regular D, others swore it was superior and
others noticed no difference. Make of this what you will...

I certainly don't think that the explanation for the alleged short
lifespan of the D harp is quite as simple as the being due to the
length of its reeds. As G noted, with the oldest Hohner MS  production
runs, D harps had the same length reeds as all the keys lower than D,
yet people were still complaining that their D harps wore out faster
than harps in C or A. Likewise, Suzuki ProMasters use the same slot
sizes for all keys from low F to high G, yet I still hear people
swearing that their D PMs wear out faster than their other keys.

Also worth keeping in mind is that the reeds in hole 4 of a D Marine
Band, Special 20, or Golden Melody are exactly the same as the reeds
in hole 6 of a MB, S20 or GM in the key of G, with neighbouring reeds
having a similar pitch to length ratio. If premature reed death on a D
harp is merely due to the length of the reed for a given pitch, then
you should be having the same problem with your G and low F harps,
especially if you do much 3 position blues playing on them.

I think any shortened lifespan of your D harp is more likely due to
how it is played and how often it is played.

 -- Pat.