Re: [Harp-L] Gapping/Embossing, am I doing it right?...long.

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Vern Smith" wrote:
<I'm a bit skeptical about embossing.  The clearance between the reed 
<and the slot is only about .001" to .002"  The amount of air that will 
 <flow through this clearance is very small compared to the total 
flowing  <through the slot of a vibrating reed or through the gap of an 
opening <reed  in the same (diatonic) chamber.  If you really narrow 
that <clearance much, the reed (which is not necessarily perfectly 
centered <or aligned) may strike the edge.

Vern, I find that embossing the slots has a definite effect on the 
responsiveness of my Lee Oskars, and all I do is drag a penny crosswise 
down the slot -- not a complex procedure, and pretty foolproof even for 
a fool like me.  I appreciate that the tolerances involved are small, 
and the reed striking the embossed edge is a potential problem.  I've 
only had that happen to me once out of dozens of harps, and it was 
easily corrected when it did (by scraping a little metal off the side of 
the slot).  Embossing is now part of my standard setup routine for new 
harps, along with setting the gaps, opening up the back of the reed 
plates, and checking the tuning.

Vern wrote also:
<I hope that this helps you feel a bit less confused about gaps.  It is 
<a topic worth much more discussion and about which the acknowledged 
<experts could be much more generous with their information.


Vern, we are talking here about proprietary intellectual property -- the 
very stuff that makes the Guild's products unique and valuable.  Asking 
the Guild to give that away is liking asking Coca-Cola corporation to 
give away the formula for Coke.  Frankly, it's unclear to me from Greg 
Hommert's questions what his intentions are -- they could easily be to 
set himself up in competition to Messrs. Sleigh, Gordon, Filisko, etc. 
Whether that's the case or not, the people who have spent thousands of 
hours mastering unique techniques are under no obligation to make the 
fruits of their efforts available to others for free.

I have also been present at more than one seminar where Sleigh and 
Filisko have answered questions about their techniques and findings 
related to harmonica enhancement in some detail -- at the level of 
principles at least, if not down to the level of tooling and tolerances. 
  In other words, I think it's  to say that these masters have been 
more than reasonably generous  with their knowledge.

Thanks and regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com