[Harp-L] Manufacturers' Reed/slot Tolerances

[Gary Lehmann]

I know better than to contradict Mr. Power--and heck, I play a lot of
Special 20s, I have no objections to playing Hohners.
But Suzuki harps are airtight by virtue of their close tolerances,
including gapping--and I agree, they were not nearly as good 20 years ago.
Of course, I don't have a microscope, doggone it . . .
Or a Sjoeberg tuning machine, too bad my budget is limited.
BTW, Koei Tanaka's tone is insanely good--just got back from
NAMM--daaammmmmn . . .

On Sun, Jan 22, 2017 at 5:16 PM, Brendan Power <bren at xxxxx>
wrote:

> On the Burnishing/Swaging/Embossing thread, Bob Cohen asked:
>
>
> "Why don't manufacturers machine the reed plates with tighter tolerances in
> the first place?"
>
>
>
> Gary replied: "Suzuki does".
>
>
>
> Certainly Suzuki are better than they used to be 20 years ago. But if you
> compare brands under the microscope as I do, from a dispassionate
> standpoint
> I believe Hohner is currently the best in terms of out-of-the box reed/slot
> tolerances. Their reedplates were going bad in the 70s/80s/90s, but since
> their revamp of stamping machines and reed widths/lengths/profiles around
> 2004, reed/slot tolerances were consistently reduced across their range -
> and Hohner reed response improved massively.
>
>
>
> Of course the Holy Grail is to be able to manufacture harmonicas with
> comparable reed/slot tolerances to hand-customised harps. I guess that's
> what Bob is driving at with his question, but no one has managed it - yet.
> I
> wouldn't say it's impossible, just extremely difficult.
>
>
>
> Possibly the adoption of new technology could push the envelope. The
> respected accordion reed maker Harmonikas based in Louny Czechoslovakia
> uses
> wire EDM to cut very precise reed slots, and they actually grade the
> reedplates by the gap between reeds and slot in fractions of a millimetre.
> There website is a treasure trove of reed-making info with excellent photos
> and a fascinating factory video:
>
>
>
> http://www.harmonikas.cz/en
>
>
>
> Wire EDM is a slow and expensive way to make reedplates so I can't see it
> being used in harmonicas, but technology is advancing apace. I believe it's
> just a matter of time before someone finds a way to mass-produce harmonica
> reedplates with custom-level reed-slot tolerances. That will be a
> game-changer.
>
>
>
> Brendan
>
>  <http://www.brendan-power.com/> www.brendan-power.com
>
>  <http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic>
> www.YouTube.com/BrendanPowerMusic
>
>
>
>