[Harp-L] Burnishing v Embossing

[Aongus Mac Cana]

At the risk of being pedantic, I suggest that neither Burnishing nor
Embossing is the correct term for spreading reed plates to reduce the gap to
the reeds.

When I went to engineering school this engineering operation was called
Swaging and was employed by Blacksmiths, Boilermakers and Sheetmetalworkers.
Car body repairmen might have had occasion to use the technique as well from
time to time, but I never anticipated that there would be occasion to apply
it to the delicate field of harmonica maintenance. Maybe I should have spent
a few weeks in a Jewelery workshop after two years in the cruder environment
of a railway maintenance works.

As far as tools for this operation on a reed plate are concerned I have
heard recommendations for coins, the ball end of a tuning fork, and small
automobile socket spanners. I have not got around to trying any of them yet.

At the Willie Clancy Summer Music School the specialty tools of Richard
Sleigh have been suggested as the weapons of choice for those who wish to
seriously attack their harmonicas with extreme prejudice.

Beannachtai

Aongus Mac Cana