[Harp-L] Reed Problem - Need Help

["samblancato" <samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Folks,

 

I'm having some reed problems and I'm wondering if anyone has a solution.
This is a bit tricky to describe so bear with me.  I get this problem on my
A, B-flat, and G harps on the 2 draw (I play SP20s and Gms, by the way).
When I bed the 2 down a full step I often get this raunchy ( and not in a
good way) "other" tone that seems almost like a chatter but at such a high
frequency as to be a tone rather than an actual chatter.  This may sound
kind of stupid but the sound reminds me of Godzilla's roar.  I hope this is
enough to give you all an idea of what I talking about.  My somewhat limited
experience with fixing this is to try swinging the reed to the right and
left of the slot and then lining it up again in hopes of better seating the
reed against the plate but when I've tried this before it didn't seem to do
much and I'm afraid of loosening the rivet's hold on the plate.  What do you
all think?

 

Sam Blancato, Pittsburgh

 

P.S. I have a couple of Blues Harps and three Herring Vintages and I've
never had this problem with these harp.