I have been working on my own harps for a very long time. Mostly just tuning them thought I do set the offset when I need to and I've tried everything else like micropore and embossing but when it comes down do it I'm just not that picky and/or patient. If the octaves are in tune I'm ready to roll.
As a consequence of being impatient and not very particular aboout my harps when I tuned them I would tune them by ear with a Korg chromatic guitar tuner as a rough guide and I thnk it's fair to say I'm pretty good at it. After not doing a very good job on a couple of reeds on a D harp the other nght I decided I would tune the whole damn thing again and actually follow the current Marine Band tuning and it worked like a charm. Nice sounding chords and perfect octaves. My tuner just has marks for 10 20 30 40 and 50 cents and they are very close together but I was able to estimate with my eye and ear well enough.
Try it you might like it and it's really not all that much more work and it's worth it. My harps are noticeably better sounding than when I just tuned them by ear.
Ryan
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