[Harp-L] Replaceable Reeds

[pneupco2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

There has been a lot of hype about the new B-Radical harmonica and itsreplaceable reeds. However, and this has been pointed out by others onthis Forum, they are really not very easily or quickly changed. Forinstance, you must fool around with some very small nuts and bolts –and have the proper sized wrenches to do the job. Once you get the newreeds on, you must properly align them, possibly tune them, and set thegap. These tasks are not easily done without a lot of time and practice.
There is, in my opinion, a better way of providing reeds that can bechanged quickly and easily with no gapping or adjusting required. Itcan be done with no more than small needle-nosed pliers and perhaps ascrewdriver. This, by the way, is nothing new. The basic idea has beenaround since the mid nineteenth century! I’m referring to reeds thatare set into individual reed shoes (or reed plates, if you prefer).This technique was, and is still used in quality English madeconcertinas. 'But', you say, 'concertina reeds are a lot larger thanharmonica reeds'. True, but this type of reed/shoe assembly was alsoused in harmonicas from the late 1930s. Harmonic Reed Corp., ofPhiladelphia, PA produced the ‘All American’ harmonica which usedreplaceable reeds mounted on separate reed shoes. The design patent forthis was issued in 1936 (D92285). The blow and draw reeds were each onseparate shoes. This was a large and unusual looking harmonica.
A few years later, probably in the late 1940s, Harmonic Reed introducedthe ‘U.S. Army Band’ harmonica – which was also sold by Sears undertheir ‘Silvertone’ label. This harmonica was about the same size asHohner’s ‘Blues Harp’ and looked like a ‘Special 20.’ It had a blackplastic comb and plated steel coverplates. The coverplates were snappedinto place. Remove the plates and the reed shoes could be easily andquickly removed from the front.
Neither of these harmonicas – the’ U.S. Army Band’ or the ‘All American- were particularly good, in my opinion. The U.S. Army Band was leakyand the reeds were not set very well. HOWEVER, with modernmanufacturing techniques and materials as well as tighter qualitycontrol, harmonicas could very easily be constructed which would be airtight and of the highest quality. They would now be great players andinstruments whose reeds could be changed by anyone in just a fewminutes and they would be in perfect adjustment and tune when. Becausethe factory would be able to produce any number of perfect reed/ shoeassemblies - which would all be marked with their pitch - anotheradvantage would be that a player/performer could keep a set ofdifferent reed shoes so he/she could quickly change the key or thetuning (Richter to Paddy Richter to Country, etc.) of the harmonicawhenever the need arose.
It would be interesting to know if Brad Harrison was aware of either ofthese harmonicas when he was developing his B-Radical. If he was, Iwonder what his reasons were for passing up on this design.  Regards,Paul N.


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