Re: [Harp-L] Brass vs Stainless Steel

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The trials have been going on for a very long time. The stainless steel reed was something Seydel factory manager Karl Pucholt was working on back in the old Soviet Bloc days... maybe the 1960s or 1970s, I'm not sure. They had this shelved for decades because the former owner of the company, the East German Communist Party, had no interest in making anything decent. 
  When Niama media bought Seydel out in 2004, the factory was like "hey, um... we have this stainless steel we've been playing around with for the last 40 years or whatever." The 1847 didn't debut until 2007. 2004-2007 was some intense R&D after God knows how many decades Karl R&D'd it on his own before that. They know what it is capable of. 
   
  Players experiences are relevant and I'm as interested as anybody in the properties of these metals and I am looking very forward to the discussion. But there is some limit to what we can gleam from the properties of the metal itself, because there are uncontrolled variables --- it is not a brass reed that has been made out of steel. It is a reed that has been engineered specifically for steel. Also there are variables of force.
   
  I have blown out one stainless steel reed. It was a Big Six six blow I tuned down with a file two steps for some alternate tuning. Then, I tuned it up two steps... there wasn't much metal left after that. It finally went a few weeks later when I was doing a Jimmie Rodgers yodel on it. 
   
  The one I have actually been playing, the C, since April 2007 is still in perfect tune. I usually have to tune after three months, blow reeds out in a year, so I'm not a very hard player.
   
  The Seydel claim is "more durable." 
   
  ______________________
Dave Payne Sr.
  Elk River Harmonicas
  www.elkriverharmonicas.com 
  
jandkday@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
  
The link below lists several metals but not brass. I always thought brass to be a softer metal,
but does it's pliability make it easier to bend? Stainless steel seems stronger but is that a
good thing in a harp? Any engineers want to chime in? I'm in over my head.

http://www.materialsengineer.com/A-Metallurgy.htm


I suppose one could do their own experiments. Buy an 'A' of thr MBDL & the 
S-1847 and see where you are in a year with the tuning. 
Of course, we are going to get into variabilities. Maybe if Seydal makes such claims,
they should have the white paper to back it up...unless trials are underway.

Drats I just switched over to MBDL too!

--
James Day 
www.jameswday.com 
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