[Harp-L] Seydel chromatic reed tolerance

[David Pearce <harpdog123@xxxxxxx>]

I've been testing a harmonica prototype using sydel configured reed plates.  I was looking at the reeds under a microscope and I saw that there is a quite a large gap between the end of the reed and the reed slot.  I put a steel ruler under the microscope and saw that the gap goes almost up to the first 1/64" mark on the ruler, so it's somewhere around .015".  This seems like a rather large gap and I'm wondering if there is a benefit to this large gap on the end of the reed or if the performance of the reed will be improved by embossing the end of the slot.  I'd also like to know how much I could expect to decrease this gap by with embossing.

Thanks,
David Pearce