Re: [Harp-L] Re: Current Hohner reeds


On Apr 2, 2008, at 7:30 AM, Joe Spiers wrote:

Reed failure is mostly caused by player technique and poor resonance. Bending notes to pitch (it sounds better anyway) instead of the floor of the bend (very flat- sounds bad) will help make most reeds last a very long time.

The latest Hohner reeds are softer and theoretically more durable. The quality control is as good or better as any of them.

Reeds for harps are not dissimilar to reeds for woodwinds. In the sax/ clarinet world, there are Van Doren reeds and then there are Rico reeds. The Ricos cost less than the Van Dorens and even when one considers the different densities 21/2, 3, 3 1/2, 4, the Ricos will always be softer (in flex) than the Van Dorens. This doesn't necessarily mean that the Van Dorens are better. It only means that if a player is going to really 'lean' on his machette, the Van Dorens will not choke out as quickly.
Usually, Van Dorens are only going to give certain musicians an edge, as the neophyte player won't get any additional benefit out of them and they will go unappreciated.

When it comes to harmonica reeds, one has only to look at the grind under a microscope to get an idea of what's going on. The reeds of different manufacturers differ. The Hohner reeds have what 'I' would consider a fine grind. Here is where the amalgum of the brass comes into play. IF you have a fine grind and the reed surface isn't too coarse, the vibrations are less likely to cause a failure across the reed as the 'valleys' in the milling aren't as rough. It's been a well established fact that anything that is milled rough has a greater tendency to fail as the surface is more 'pourous'. Pourous to vibration.

Now if you have a 'springy' mixture in your alloy, the brass can tolerate more flexing than an alloy which has more 'fill' metal. It tends to be that the more zinc you have, the softer the brass and the weaker the brass (on the mohs scale). That's because it is less noble on the PH scale. A metal gets it's nobility by being able to alloy with most of the outer orbits of electrons being CLOSED. Since there are different amounts of electrons in the outer orbits of metals, it behooves the alchemist to use the best possible alloys for the job at hand.

Harmonica reeds are small and should be made of material that is non suspect. I happen to like Hering chromos for their loudness, quick response, and pinchy sound, but the brass is VIRGIN brass. It is fresh copper & zinc from nearby Bolivia and Chile. Hohner brass (which I prefer for emotion) contains a certain amount of re-cycled metal (containing OTHER trace metals) and tends to be harder, don't vibrate as far (per cycle) and gives a more mellow tone (when plucked). It's like a music box reed comb made of cast iron or steel. They differ.

They've fixed a lot of problems they had. But, this softer brass also causes them to flex differently. The flex area affects the limits of what I can achieve with tone, volume, response, and tuning stability. I think they play well stock, in fact a lot of the Marine Bands will OB right out of the box. But they won't give me what I want from them when modified. The older, harder-brass reeds are a lot more work.... but the end result is a harp that feels, sounds, and plays just a little bit better for what I need it to do.

This makes perfect sense.

smo-joe 

JS
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