Re: [Harp-L] gapping at the factory

[Vern <jevern@xxxxxxx>]

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxeR1vifJBg <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxeR1vifJBg>

At about 2:20, you can see the nimble fingers of the tuner using a file to set the pitch then raising the supporting blade to not only plink but also set the gap.   I have seen videos of diatonics being assembled where the person riveting the reeds sets the gap with her fingernail as she plinks it to check for centering and freedom of vibration.  If you raise the reed just the right amount as you plink it to hear the pitch, the gap is set.  This is something that you probably donât get just right the first time you do it.  Having done it many thousands of times, the operator probably does it in a fraction of a second and without thinking.

In both cases it is easy for an observer to miss because it is so fast, smooth, and integrated with a plink. 

It works because the starting conditions at the factory are always the same with a straight, virgin reed.  The labor costs of slow, deliberate gapping as we do it would be prohibitive. However, we start with variable conditions and already-gapped reeds.

Vern

> On Feb 26, 2015, at 1:44 PM, JON KIP <jon@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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> Gapping would have to be done after riveting them to the plates (duh) and before tuning (gapping affects tuning, so is best done first). I did the Hohner factory tour in 2013 but don't remember seeing gapping being done.
> 
> Winslow Yerxa
> 
> that must have been a fun tour... 
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> I guess gapping is done behind closed doors at The Factory.....in the secret gapping chamber....
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> I guess, much like a few other potentially embarrassing  things, EVERYBODY gaps, but few want to admit it to others.
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> We need to get people to understand that Gapping is just natural.... it's time to bring it out of the darkness and into The Light.
> 
> I'm Jon Kip, and I Gap.
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> Full  Disclosure: and then I tune.
> 
> 
> Of the instruments that I own, only the harmonica comes in so many keys, costs so little, and has room for magnets.
> 
> http://jonkip.com
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>