Re: [Harp-L] Blu-Tack and Solder WAS: Optimized Blues Tuning

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Right....and effjay's comments were right too:"Reducing metal at the rivet end of the reed makes the reed more flexible
and drops the pitch because a more flexible reed has a longer swing so
the frequency decreases.  Stiffening the reed towards the root would
have an opposite effect, the interval of the oscillation would decrease
and the pitch would rise."
.....................however, I gotta syy that the weight-effect of the Blu-tak decreases the closer it is placed to the rivet.
It's to do with leverage I think. Near the rivet, the not-very-massy Blu-tak has no effect at all.

Cheers,
RD
PS Have fun at Spah peoples. One of these days I might make it around there....going to Hawaii in Oct. instead (can't afford both) to hang out at at the Royal Palm Hotel with my little lap-steel....a no harmonica zone! Aloha!

>>> Larry Sandy <slyou65@xxxxxxxxx> 13/08/11 4:38 AM >>>
  It isn't the weight of the solder but the action of the solder bridging the gaps, thus shortening the reed.  Blu-Tack would only add weight and slow the reed, probably anywhere it was placed.   Mik Jagger indicated this, I believe, in yesterdays post.
Reducing weight on the free end speeds the reed but doesn't slow it down. 
 
Wish I was "Spahing"
 
Lockjaw Larry
Breathing Music daily

From: Rick Dempster <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Robert Hale <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; harp-L list <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: heiner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 7:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Blu-Tack and Solder WAS: Optimized Blues Tuning

Yeah.....dammit....youse are right again Richard....aaarrrgh! Where's Professor Vern when we need him? Guess most of you blokes are in the gym 'Spahing' for the big weekend.
I'll give it some more thought.
RD

>>> Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 11/08/2011 23:18 >>>
Rick Dempster wrote:
>As Vern has stated (if I got it right) pitch is raised by increasing the stiffness of the reed. Blu-tak won't do that, and soft solder will only do it a bit, because it's not very stiff itself.
>Adding or reducing weight at the free tip works to speed up or slow down the vibration of the reed, and reducing metal at the rivet end makes it less stiff.

There's something wrong with the explanation above.  If reducing metal at the rivet end makes the reed less stiff, and raising the pitch requires that stiffness be increased, then why does reducing metal at the rivet end make the pitch go up, which it certainly does?

Perhaps it's the distribution of the weight of the reed, not just its stiffness, that affects pitch?

Thanks, Richard Hunter

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