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The first thing you need is a lightbox. It allows you to place the reeds
on a lighted flat surface and then you can see exactly when to stop
embossing! You can find these at art stores like Dick Blick around 30
dollars. I will do a video on this at some point. Dave Payne did a great
pizza box video I dont have the link. Hopefully he will post it on here
(he uses a pizza box to show a larger example of embossing technique).
2nd, is to have some shim stock so you can run it along the sides of the
reeds and the slots and remove the burrs than can cause problems.
When I emboss, I use these tools (mentioned above) and also constantly
plink to the reed to make sure it is not hitting the slot as I work.
Most of the work I do is on 1-6 draw reeds, some on blow reeds and some
on overblows. For beginners, 7 - 10 draw not necessary unless you are
doing overdraw setup.
For beginners, I would only recommend doing the top 2/3 of the slot and
not at the very base (small reward, lots of room for error going that low).
You really need a good embossing tool. I use two of them that are not
available for resale. Dick Sjoebergs UST is helpul. I dont know what
tools you are using and what harps, but you can check out some of the
videos and tools I offer. Including a seydel all in one wrench
,embossing tool, video, and reed gapper made by Sjoeberg here
www.harptools.com. Its called Seydel soundcheck or I call it the Seydel
multi-tool. Plus the video included shows you how to emboss.
Also, a penny works well or rounded socket. The key is to do it lightly,
newer harps dont need it much as they have improved slot tolerances
including hohner recently.
If you have to un-emboss, you can slide the reed over with a reed wrench
and gently rub some fine sandpaper in the slot. Count your strokes,
probably 5 on each side will do the trick. Dont do it too much or it
will be very leaky. You can also gently scrape with an exacto blade
dipped in mineral oil for smooth cutting. Again, it may not take much.
BUT you must have a light box or other good light source to do this kind
of precision work!
Im sure there many other things I will think of later, but this is off
the top of my head!
Good luck.
Matthew
hetrickharmonica.com
On 10/22/2012 7:37 PM, Lloyd Short wrote:
I tried to emboss my reeds for the first time. Now half of them wont play a
note on the draw. Just a strange squeeky vibrato nnoise. Help please :(