Fwd: [Harp-L] Tuning and reed integrity

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

I've lowered the pitch of a reed by 3 semitones with no ill effect on 
reed life. I suspsect you could go farther with this technqie without 
reed damage.

I don't use files or motor devices. I use a sanding tool known as a 
sanding detailer - it's like a pen but wound with a band of sandpaper:

http://www.highland-hardware.com/browseproducts/Finishing-Detail-
Sanding-Kit.HTML

A number of companies sell these onine together with sanding belts in 
different grits. The link above is included because it has a picture.

You won't weaken the reed if you don't gash it. Recently I took a 
pair of MS reedplates in low D and throroughly reworked them - 
embossing, re-setting gaps, tuning to just. Near the end of the 
process the Draw 6 reed fatigued and broke. It snapped off along the 
line of a tuning gash near the root of the reed. I had not altered 
the pitch of this reed by more than a few cents and it had seen very 
little playing time. Rather than replace the reed, I decided to just 
rework another reedplate. But the Draw 6 reed on that plate had a 
nearly identical tuning gash, and with far less work on it, that Draw 
6 snapped off along the same gash line.

Clearly making a deep groove in the reed invites it to break apart at 
that point; the thange in thickness is severe and is concentrated in 
a very small area. Sanding along the length of the reed with a fairly 
fine grit (mabe 320-600 range) does not create a break point. Any 
thinning of the reed is widely distributed, even if you sand only in 
a very small area (like maybe 2 mm of the length along the full width 
of the reed).

Solder is a quick way to lower pitch quickly. I've never spent much 
time with and so am not very good at it. I have tried using car body 
filler mixed with brass filings (take an old reed plate and a 
file . . .). This works fine on long reeds and doesn't have the 
potential to run all over the reed, slot, etc. and ruin everything. 
Aside from accidents due to blundering, soldering changes the weight 
distribution on the reed in a rather dramatic way. This can have 
unwanted consequences for reed responsiveness, width of swing 
(hitting the covers), etc. So it takes not only good soldering 
technique but a good understanding of how best to place and 
distribute the solder for overall reed response as well as pitch.

Winslow

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Colin Fulton <justcolin@xxxx> 
wrote:

I am wodering how much you can retune a reed with both methods used
(scraping off material and adding solder), can you get half steps,
whole steps or greater?

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