Re: [Harp-L] Re: GM harps

[joe leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have never ever had a reed break at a tuning mark. If anything,  
there have been 'smears' where the tuning mark was run over onto the  
plate leaving a tiny burr that subsequently chirped or sent out an  
extremely faint high pitched ping.

Any reeds that I have had break, broke at the junction where the  
rivet pad is milled down to the reeds final thickness. It is not a  
good idea to come down on the reed with a sharp edged mill that  
leaves a sharp inside corner or step. Any engineer will tell you that  
ALL edges should be 'broken'. It matters nary a wit as to what the  
item is.

Ftr: breaking edges is machinists parlance for rounding all radii. I  
just replaced a reed in a spl-20 Bb this afternoon. It had failed at  
the aforementioned juncture. I don't often HAVE reeds fail as Hohner  
products are such fine items, but I put a lot of stress on the 5 blow  
reed and I use a wind saver on the 5 draw, and this shifts a lot of  
strain onto the 5 blow when I blow it down a half step.

Ok, when a player is going to play a harmonica in a way that it  
wasn't meant to be played, they should expect occasional failures.

smo-joe , agent 00L  (from Haiti with love)