[Harp-L] Re: Holes suddenly hard to draw and blow

[JohnnieHarp <johnnieharp@xxxxxxxxx>]

> I think when I blow with my usual force, then sometimes the reed is
> stopped initially which makes the air flow stopped also. The volume is
> just all right... So, is it because I gapped the reed too tight? If
> that so, does it mean that I only can gap very tight at reeds planned
> to be used of OB?

Yes, adjust the reeds so that you can do what you want to do, hole by hole,
which means that you may want to gap certain ones tighter than others, for
overblowing ease rather than setting up all the reeds that way. Getting what
works best for you requires playing around.

Setting the reeds up is a compromise between having them gapped tight enough
to choke easily, yet with enough gap room to blow with the force that you
need to. Also, you'll find that to get the feel that you want, the gaps of
the blow reeds will likely vary and may be different between two identical
harps in the same key. Very subtle profile differences and rivet end tuning
likely affect this.

Harps gapped for overblowing can jam up really easily. I was just listening
to the Jason Ricci Oskar Blues gig from last month and there's a place in
one of the tunes where he's launching in to a high note riff and several
reeds get stuck with little or no sound audible. He deviates from his usual
solo, goes down to the bottom notes and then bounces around a bit to clear
the upper reeds, before returning to his intended solo. So tight gapping can
be problematic for the best as well.

Check out the link below for further discussion. I find the Overblow.com
site much more useful now that I've had experience with reed and slot
adjustment.

http://www.overblow.com/?menuid=138

The big benefit from doing one's own customization is that you can tailor
the instrument to your playing rather than having to try and adjust your
playing to the quirks of the instrument.