Re: [Harp-L] More On Reed Problems

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

sam wrote:
> Can you do something to the lower four reed slots in low C,D, E 
> and F harps to make it easier to get deep bends?  
<snip>
> Tim, do you know something that you don't want to divulge?  

There really aren't any secrets in this business, and I don't know 
anything about harmonicas that I wouldn't tell or show another 
person.  That said, there are a lot of things that you learn about 
building harmonicas from doing lots and lots of them that you can't 
really tell someone, it's a feel thing that's hard to quantify.  

As for bending really low notes, though, it might help to understand 
a little more about the way the physics works to know what the 
limitations are: when you "bend" a note down, what you're doing is 
creating a resonant chamber in your mouth and vocal tract that 
causes the active reed to move down in pitch.  Winslow described 
this very well in a recent post, though it may have been on the 
HarpTalk list, I don't recall.  

At any rate, creating that lower sypathetic vibration is largely a 
function of how low a resonant chamber you can make.  This is 
something of a physical limitation.  I remember reading something by 
the esteemed Dr. Antaki that suggested that there is a corelation 
between how deep a resonating chamber you can make and the pitch of 
your speaking voice.  In practice, I've found my harmonica students 
learn bending better on different pitched harps depending on the 
pitch of their speaking voice.  

As with just about all things harmonica, you can improve this with 
practice.  You can learn to create lower resonating chambers to bend 
lower pitched reeds, just as you can create higher resonating 
chambers to get blow bends on very high notes, like the 10 hole of 
an F harp!  I hate to say that the answer is practice, but that's 
the truth of the matter.  

-tim

Tim Moyer
Working Man's Harps
http://www.workingmansharps.com/