Re: [Harp-L] Reed "Profile"

["Vern Smith" <jevern@xxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe and Cass Leone" <leone@xxxxxxxx>
To: "Robert Coble" <robertpcoble@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 7:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Reed "Profile"




On Jun 16, 2009, at 10:34 AM, Robert Coble wrote:

> Why a 'few'guys wrote the books is beyond me as it has 
> been my
experience that most of the old masters died and took their 
knowledge
with them. The first book I read was by the great Blackie 
(Alan
Schackner). I found t to be a great book, but it was geared 
to the
new player and unfortunately, I was already set in my ways 
and it
didn't show me anything I didn't already know. The second 
book, which
was loaned to me by a lady friend of my wife's, was by the 
great
Tommy Morgan. IT, also, was old news.

Schackner, Tate, McKenzie, The Buckeye Club, and Gardner all 
wrote on the subject of harmonica maintenance,  repair, and 
a little on customization.  The recent questions were about 
reed design.  AFAIK there is no book on that.  I believe 
that the old methods were indeed empirical.  However some 
modern manufacturers such as Suzuki probably use FEA.

> The springiest material I have found are contact points 
> from onside
electrical relay switches. They have enough alloy in them to 
be quite
springy. Springy is what you want. Springy is what you need. 
Common
brass is lousy to work with.

Yes, a good spring material is a good reed material. 
Beryllium copper is often used in relays because of its 
springiness and also its high electrical conductivity. 
Beryllium copper makes excellent harmonica reeds.  It is 
more brittle than brass and bronze so great care must be 
taken when gapping to avoid breaking it.

An easy source of material for reeds is .012" cold rolled 
brass or SS shim stock (available from McMaster Carr.) 
Making reeds is a real challenge because of the close 
tolerances required.  You may get the pitch right but make 
it too stiff or limber and so not properly responsive.

> I'd like to be able to purchase individual reeds of a 
> particular  material from someone else, but no one seems 
> to be in that market  at the present time. I'd love to do 
> it as a charitable venture to  the harmonica world, but 
> alas, Uncle Sam seems to have the  exclusive rights to 
> creating money whenever desired.

Even for the do-it-yourself technician, making harmonica 
reeds to order for material, pitch, and harp takes 
specialized machinery.  Making them out of razor blades is a 
Soe-Joe skill not easily duplicated.

Vern