RE: [Harp-L] Blu-Tack and Solder: Go Brendan!

[Steve Shaw <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Michelle!  I remember you recommending this years ago, and I bought a little plastic bottle of that brass powder and tried the technique. It works! The fast-setting epoxy is crucial - it will set even faster if you give it some gentle heat. I've got a bit less adventurous over the years, doing little more than the odd Paddy Richter retune, but I'm hanging on to that little bottle of brass powder! 


> Just to toss in another option, Pat Missin used to recommend a mixture 
> of brass powder and epoxy (this may have changed with all the press on 
> Blu-Tak). Works great for me. Mix it up and it takes little of it 
> applied to a reed tip to make the desired change in pitch (brass powder 
> is certainly heavier than B-T). Use fast-setting epoxy and it takes 
> little time to be ready for an Exacto knife for course tuning and a fine 
> file for fine tuning. There is one advantage of this method compared to 
> B-T: there is no worry about it coming off spuriously. I have harps that 
> I re-tuned with this method that are still going strong after years of 
> play. Yet, similar to B-T, all it takes is a well-placed flick in with 
> that Exacto knife to remove it and restore the reed to its original pitch.

> Michelle