Hey, Frank, I'd be interested to hear some details about the reed fatigue
or maybe where the reports are coming from. I'm not questioning what you
are saying I'm just really trying to get a handle on how long they last.
Whenever I talk to a customer who bought one from me I ask how it's doing,
as far as I know, everyone I've sold is still up and runing and they
usually get the Forty Seven in their main key, so it gets plenty of use. .
Mine's been going a year and sitll in perfect tune, no beating on the
octaves. I asume someday the first crop of 1847s will start fatiguing.
When will that be? 10 years? 20 years? A milennium? I have no clue. On my
1847 C, I'd have gone through three Special 20s with the stress I've put
on it.
I did break a reed on a Big Six stainless a month ago... here is what it
took to finally do it. I tuned a Big Six to some new circular-type tuning
I'd sort of invented, to get it, I had to tune the 6 blow a step and a
half down for this tuning. I never consider anything more than a step on
a brass reed, but the stainless reed took it a step and half. I decided
I'd rather have a Richter Big Six than this new invented circular, plus I
had one I retuned to an actual circular, so I tuned it back to Richter. I
then tuned it a step and half back up. There was barely any metal left
after all that... but, it still played. Played very well, in fact. Then, I
spent a couple days trying to learn this "Once Upon A Time In The West"
thing Igor Flach was doing, it's probably the most stress I've ever put on
a reed playing... after a couple of days of this, I was doing the Igor
Flach thing and the No. 6 blow went about two steps flat in 3 seconds.
From my experience,
at least, that's what it takes to fatigue a steel reed. That's quite a bit
of abuse.
_______________________
Dave Payne
Elk River Harmonicas
www.elkriverharmonicas.com
I've seen many reports of broken Seydel SS reeds. They are subject to
fatigue, probably not as quickly, but they break. Additional research
for optimized reed profiles might make them still sturdier, i don't
think Seydel has reached the optimum yet.
--
Gruß,Frank
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----- Original Message ----
From: Frank Evers <frank@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 3:14:08 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Custom Harmonicas - Worth It?
Hi Wolf
Am Dienstag, 15. April 2008 schrieb Wolf Kristiansen:
I would love to have customized harmonicas. However,
I assume the reeds get fatigued at the the same rate
as those in stock harmonicas.
If customizing includes reed polishing (and done properly) the reeds
will last significantly longer.
I'm not well off. I can't justify buying expensive
customized harmonicas that I will eventually throw
away. I'm too frugal.
Customizers usually offer repair service. They will simply replace any
broken or damaged reeds. This is relativly inexpensive.
Whenever i buy a new harp and decide to improve it, i have to spend a
lot of time on that. If i had to pay myself for the time i spend on
it at my usual rate i'd have to spend aproximately the same i have to
spend for a custom harp and my results are still poor compared to a
professional improved one.
When a reed dies on a harp, that i spent hours on to make it play the
way i want, i surely won't throw the whole harp away, i'll replace
the reed. Even if i "only" completely regapped a harp (which takes at
least 1.5 hours in at least two sessions) i'd always replace one reed
instead of regapping 20.
It's the same with customs.
They're made to last a lifetime and when used with care they do!
--
Gruß,Frank
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_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l