Re: [Harp-L] Stainless steel reeds - do they sound different? Somedata

["PT Gazell" <ptgazell@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I had the pleasure of playing this harp at Buckeye this  last weekend. 
Rupert was kind enough to give me a Bb for evaluation. The lower octave is 
very responsive and has a nice bell like sound to it. The 1 hole draw was 
flat and required tuning which was very different than brass. I had to file 
quite a bit to make a difference. However I suspect that it will hold it's 
tuning better. The same can be said for the gapping. Since I play valved 
harmonicas, I tend to open the gaps a little more than today's out of the 
box models. Again, this was a little more difficult to achieve due to the 
makeup of the reeds. But I'm willing to bet they stay put better. It's a 
very cool thing and will only get better. I think Seydel is really making 
some great moves. I am not a tech but I do know what I hear... and I like 
it.


PT Gazell
pt@xxxxxxxxxxxx
www.myspace.com/ptgazell
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vern Smith" <jevern@xxxxxxx>
To: "Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>; <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 3:38 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Stainless steel reeds - do they sound different? 
Somedata


> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Vern Smith" <jevern@xxxxxxx>; <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 1:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Stainless steel reeds - do they sound different? 
> Some data
>
>
> > Vern -
> >
> > I agree with your qualifications, but it's nice to see a step in the
> > right direction.
>
> It is indeed!
> > As to the question of stiffness profile having an effect: to the extent
> > that such differences are required by differences in the properties of
> > the materials, they could perhaps be seen as secondary effect of
> > differences in materials.
>
> I agree with this reservation.  I have a Hard Bopper with one home-made SS 
> reed.  I have found no one who can find that reed by listening to or 
> playing the harp.  Even if we can see differences in the spectrogram, the 
> question remains if the differences are perceptible to humans. This is 
> like the hi-fi buffs who used to listen look at square waves on an 
> oscilloscope.
>
> I still think that it is possible to design a SS reed which will not be 
> perceptibly different from a reference copper-alloy reed.  The two reeds 
> will have large differences in geometry.  When and if I complete my SS 
> reed making project, I'll stand on firmer ground to debate the matter.
>
> Vern
> Visit my harmonica website www.Hands-Free-Chromatic.7p.com
>
> > Winslow
> >
> >
> > --- Vern Smith <jevern@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > > I applaud the person who made and published the spectrograms and to
> > > Winslow
> > > for bringing them to our attention.  This sort of thing will
> > > contribute to
> > > our understanding of reed function.
> > >
> > > Especially, I applaud Seydel for making harps with SS reeds.
> > >
> > > That said, here are some cautions on drawing conclusions from the two
> > >
> > > spectrograms.
> > >
> > > I found that the spectral differences of supposedly-identical but
> > > different
> > > reedplates on the same comb material were surprisingly great.  I
> > > believe
> > > that differences in the gaps and the clearances between the reeds and
> > > slots
> > > can show up in the spectrograms. That means that you can't attribute
> > > all of
> > > the differences in the spectrograms to differences in materials.
> > >
> > > It would be interesting to see several spectrograms of  sets harps
> > > with
> > > brass and SS reeds.  That would let us assess how much of the
> > > difference was
> > > attributable to the difference in reed materials and designs and how
> > > much to
> > > other variables.
> > >
> > > The other thing that would be interesting to know is how much the
> > > stiffness
> > > profile (the resistance to bending at each point along the length of
> > > the
> > > reed), and the mass at the tip varied from brass to SS. If this was
> > > not
> > > carefully controlled, the spectral differences may arise from
> > > differences of
> > > reed design and not from differences in material.
> > >
> > > The spectral differences may have arisen from differences of
> > > materials,
> > > differences in reed design., or in differences of installation such
> > > as gap
> > > and clearance.  It would require more data to sort that out.
> > >
> > > Vern
> > > Visit my harmonica website www.Hands-Free-Chromatic.7p.com
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > > From: "Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
> > > To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > > Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 9:21 AM
> > > Subject: [Harp-L] Stainless steel reeds - do they sound different?
> > > Some data
> > >
> > >
> > > > Bertram Becher of Seydel sent me an interesting link:
> > > >
> > > > http://www.seydel1847.de/epages/Seydel.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=211764
> > > >
> > > > He recorded two otherwise identical harps, one with stainless reeds
> > > and
> > > > one with brass reeds, then ran a frequency analysis on each. There
> > > are
> > > > differences that are both audible on the recordings and visible in
> > > the
> > > > frequency graph.
> > > >
> > > > Winslow
> > > >
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