Re: [Harp-L] In praise of Blu-tack

[JohnnieHarp <johnnieharp@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Richard,

Welcome to the dark side!

Natural and harmonic minor are easy to do to as only 5 reeds need to
be lowered and the blow plate is the same for both …

>1)  Comment: it is remarkable how little Blu-Tack is needed …

I take a little and roll it into a thin “thread” and then cut a bit
off … makes getting the right amount easier … experience will give an
idea of how thin to make the roll …

Put a little paper underneath the tip of the reed to make it easier to
apply without the reed being pushed into the slot …

I got the generic blu tak at Staples and think it was about $3 for the
same amount … works great too …

>2)  Comment: … I will get myself an X-Acto knife to help me make those tiny little adjustments in future.

I use a disposable scalpel that I “inherited” and has a very small
curved blade and a plastic handle … very light and makes a superb
plinking tool as well … I use it to help in material placement,
removal and shaping … great to move the material away from the edges
of the reed … not sure if there is a corresponding xacto blade but
should be as is very useful …

Shifting the material towards or away from the tip of the reed can
alter the pitch without having to add more material if the tuning is
close …

Still fiddly work ... can't imagine trying to do this with glue or
solder ... likely have to remove the reeds from the reed plate ...

>3)  Question: … If I put a little Blu-Tack on the fixed end of the reed, will that raise the pitch?

Unfortunately no … would have to make the reed springier to raise
pitch … the only way I can think of doing this reversibly would be to
piggy back a little bit of springy wire and attach somehow to the back
of the reed  …

I tried reversibly raising the pitch with some super glue along the
back of the reed … the pitch was raised but the reed became noticeably
stiffer … that being said, think I did it on a draw reed … might have
been less noticeable on a blow reed …like in the Melody Maker tuning
...

In my experience, blu tak stays on the reeds indefinitely … it seems
that if properly applied to a clean surface, only mechanical contact
will remove it … or possibly hot water …

I have used it in cases where I file re-tuned a flat reed to find it
was now too sharp … a little tiny bit of blue brought the reed back
into pitch … been there for over a year, undisturbed on a frequently
used harp …

Also … I think you customarily detune your 10b a semitone … blu tak
works great here without permanently affecting the reeds …

I have a blu tak circ tuned harp that has 13 reeds detuned ... some of
the high reeds detuned 4 and 5 semitones … still works great … likely
can do more with the high notes than the lower ones …

My circ tuned is a Suzuki Harpmaster and, the reeds have become easy
to overblow whereas unweighted they aren’t … not sure if it’s the tip
weighing more or if the blu tak was placed where it wouldn’t affect
the tuning, would have the same effect … like turbotaping … been
meaning to find out …

BTW recently go an RP355 … must get your patch set …

JH