[Harp-L] Re: overblow setup beyond gapping and burnishing?

["Jonathan Metts" <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm not familiar with burnishing, but perhaps it's the same as embossing? 
After gapping, the most important part of setup for OBs is embossing, i.e. 
making the reed slot more airtight by narrowing the gaps around the sides. 
You can also emboss the tip of the reed slot, but it's tricky to do so 
without the reed catching on a burr.

The third most important part of setup for OBs is reed arcing.  This is 
especially important if you want to bend your OBs (which is pretty much 
required if you want to play them in tune or with any inflection/vibrato). 
If you are interested in this stuff, I highly recommend checking out 
www.overblow.com and www.tenhole.com .  Both are run by the same guy but 
have somewhat different content.  I personally use more arc in the reed than 
Tinus recommends, but otherwise I can endorse practically everything he 
shows on those websites.

Finally, the most important thing for OBs, more than all of this setup 
stuff, is practice.  Sheer practice of the technique on multiple holes and 
multiple harmonicas will teach your mouth exactly what to do to get the note 
you want, and then all this setup stuff becomes more about making the OB 
sound just right and less about making the OB sound at all.  An experienced 
player can overblow almost any harp, regardless of setup.  But then, the 
point isn't just to get an overblow to come out; it's to make a new note 
that you can use in a musical context!  That takes both practice and good 
setup.

Jonathan Metts