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

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

1) Shaping a really low reed with solder is a pain in the rear. There's a good reason Seydel was the only company offering low harps for about 10 years. I've heard of a diatonic being tuned as low C2. That's double low C. You could probably even tune lower. Whether you'd be able to hear it is another matter. 
2) This changes. Some reeds can be tuned more down this way than others - because a reed's pitch is a length with a ratio of weight distributed along that length. If the reed has a weight on the end, any removal of metal at the base of the reed will have a larger pitch change, I think and all this depends on how much metal is at the base of that reed to take off. If you're really careful, you can do a full step on a weighted reed. If you try that higher up on the harp, you'll probably run out of metal.
 3) It usually is a combination between the two. If you look at the Seydel superlow reeds, the reeds on the 1 blow, etc. where the solder weights are, the reeds are thinner than a regular reed at the base. 


David Payne
www.elkriverharmonicas.com


Elk River Harmonicas Forum now available via Iphone app, www.elkriverharmonicas.com/forum


________________________________
 From: Robert Hale <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-L list <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 9:43 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] practical limit of tuning down
 
   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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