Re: [Harp-L] practical limit of tuning down

[Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robt. It all depends on who is doing to job. Someone with very good jeweler's level hands can polish the base (rivet end) of the reed down about 1/2 to 3/4 of a tone. Safely. Now while you can reduce the rivet end lower by concentrating on ONE small spot, it is safer to polish away brass over about 1/3rd of that end. 
You can do this by placing one half od a double edges razor blade under the reed for support and then working with very little pressure combined with lots of time. Too much pressure from being in too much of a hurry will cause a belly in the razor blade and a subsequent belly in the reed..forcing it to come to an 'at rest' position that is too low in the slot. A shim thicker than a razor blade is also not too good because you can't get it back INTO the rivet end as far and subsequently you will loose a lot of support..causing..you guessed it..the dreadful belly. 

Then after lowering the pitch of the reed as far as 'MAYBE a tone, you can then add weight to the reed tips. Naturally a higher pitched reed will take more adjustment range than a lower pitched reed. A lower pitched reed is ALREADY fairly heavy at the tips by means of a weighted section or a section where the reed is much thicker than the 'shank' of the reed. Solder should be added judiciously to the end few mm of reed .. OR as close to the tip as possible. Another alternative is to glue or solder a 'chip' of reed material TO the tip. BUT, make sure to keep such a fragment NARROWER than the reed. This is to keep the EDGES from buzzing in the air vortex that a large heavier than normal reed covering a larger than normal swing WILL produce. 

An alternative is to flat out CHANGE reeds. This can be a catch 22 also as some of the heavier reeds that you may want to use are LONGER than the one you are replacing. And by the time you trim them to length, you are right back where you started. I.E. too high in pitch. 

As for your questions, I doubt that anyone has actually kept a record on this. Technicians tend to do a job and as long as they accomplish it, extensive notes  aren't of any immediate concern. I know that I never really cared. BUT, I would guess that 3.5 semi tones 'might' be possible. 

smokey joe  (the doo-wop cop, the Punjab of Java-pour, your daddio of the raddio, your platter pushin papa)

 

On Oct 16, 2012, at 9:43 PM, Robert Hale wrote:

>   1. What's the lowest a reed has been tuned (in semitones) with solder?
>   2. ...the lowest achieved by thinning the base (rivet-end) of the reed?
>   3. ...the lowest by combination of these two?
> 
> 
> Robert Hale
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