[Harp-L] tuning stuff

["John Kerkhoven" <solo_danswer@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Michael,

I'm not an expert, just one more harp player who has bought some tools and
spent some time working on his harps.

I am still learning the art of tuning and customizing. It IS an art, or I
should say both are arts.

Here's what Pat Missin says:

If the beating is a little faster, then you need to flatten the reed. If
slower, then you need to sharpen it.

That seems a bit mysterious because there are, of course two reeds sounding
when you are testing this, so which one do you tune, and which way? You
have, of course, to have at least one reed on your harp as a point of
reference.

Got to Pat Missin's site and find the zip file Altered States. Look for the
file called TUN.TXT. Lots of stuff in there.

Also check out this harp-l post by Tim Moyer on tuning by ear:
http://www.harp-l.com/pipermail/harp-l/2006-June/msg00372.html

Hope this helps.

Good luck,

John

PS anyone else want to chime in?


MR wrote:

So I have been studying Sleigh's manual.  I have got an old harp and
have broken 3 blow reeds by using the paper clip tool and blow reed
support tool.  How do you do that better.

As per Richard's instruction, I am tuning the higher note of an octave
combination a hair sharper than the lower octave note.  For example, I
will tune hole 5 blow 0.7 cents sharper than hole 2 blow.  That sounds
good, but when I tune hole 8 blow another 0.7 cents sharper, I get the
octave beating.

Is there a way to listen to the beating to access which note is too
high or low?  Since 2 and 5 blow sound nice, my instinct is to retune
hole 8, but I want to follow octave beating rules.  Then, is there a
way to listen to the beating and access whether or not the note needs
to be flattened or sharpened?
Thanks,
Michael Rubin