[Harp-L] Hohner replacement reed profile

[Harvey Berman <cscharp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Some time ago, I bought a bunch of Hohner reeds for the handmade diatonics directly from Hohner USA.  When I started looking at them recently, I noticed that they were the old profile, where the ground portion of the reed is square cut to the pad at the rivet end, rather than tapered down like the newer reeds, which I think leaves a shear line for possible breakage.  This, in my mind makes these reeds at least 12 years old, I think, since they have been using the newer profile since they started stamping dates on the plates around 1987.  Again, I think I am right about this.

Has anyone out there bought any reeds from Hohner which are the newer profile?   Maybe Steve Baker knows the answer.  Steve??.  Am I right on my dating of these reeds.  Are there any advantages of using these older reeds?  I think I heard once that the newer reeds, especially in the first couple of holes have a lot of flex, because they are thinner, and that sometimes it was hard to get the reed not buzz.  Apparantly the older vingage reeds did not have that problem.  Am I correct, or is reality escaping me.

Thanks for any answers.

Harvey Berman