[Harp-L] Tunable reeds

["jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx" <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Building a harmonica which is tunable in the method Winslow wrote of would be possible, but rather difficult.  

Each reed would need a block, connected to a moveable part of some sort, the block would act as a stop for the reeds length, moving it toward or away from the base of the tongue would lower or sharpen the pitch.  This is fairly straightforward, but, and this is important, the block would need to be held very securely--if it moves too easily, you would constantly be going out of pitch.  Even minimal movement would be a major problem.  So I would suggest some sort of gearing.  Try fitting all that into a standard size harmonica.

I actually have a lot of experience with tuning these sorts of free reeds, but I am not convinced they are a good idea.  The reeds seem to be less stable than beating reeds, for instance, which is unusual as non-tunable free-reeds are generally more stable than beating reeds.  I think that a tunable system might be more feasible for a bass harmonica, as the scale of reeds and instrument might make the gearing or whatever method of securing the block you come up with.  Still, I think you would have to consider the trade off between easy tub ability and pitch stability--do you really want to tune your harmonica nearly every time you play it?  

A better idea for quick change tuning might be to develop something along the lines of the All-American Bakelite line of harmonicas (see the archives) with a quickly removable mouthpiece to access the individual reed-plates.



JR Ross