[Harp-L] How far can you tune up a reed?

[Joseph Leone]

Here’s a trick I use instead of a scraper. I take a bunch of popsicle sticks, place then alongside each other flat sides together, line them up and slap them on my work bench. I clamp them together with a large paper
binder clip. I coat the thin edges with contact cement. I slap the stack down onto my bench onto a piece of emory paper. I use various grits. I apply a weight and let the glue set. Then I use an exacto razor knife to cut down between them. This leaves a strip of emory on the thin edges. I also cut fingernail filing boards and apply them to popsicle sticks. I call them wands. 

Result? You can file reeds if you need to remove major material. But the wands do a nice job of finishing things up to a fine tune. EVERYTHING else as stated by the great Duke of Wail is correct. BTW, as the emory loads up I cut the tips of the popsicle sticks on a 45 degree angle so as to have a sharp entry edge. Back up the ‘patient’ reed with a razor blade. 

smokey joe & his cafes 

> On Mar 11, 2017, at 2:02 AM, Robert Hale <robert at xxxxx> wrote:
> 
> a double-thick tab on the free end can take more scraping/filing than a
> single-thickness tip.
> Draw 5 is mid-harp, likely a single-thickness reed.
> 
> Start lightly and test for pitch often. It may take quite a bit to raise
> the 1/2 step you want.
> Use a sharp scraper, and a shim under the reed. I scrape the last 1/5th of
> the tip for best results.
> Scrape evenly over a wide area of most of the width of the reed. Don't let
> it get thinner in one spot.
> 
> LEARNER'S CAUTION: Don't hurry and get overconfident. Easy to catch the tip
> of the reed on your next upstroke, bending the reed badly.
> 
>   1. Scrape down toward tip.
>   2. Lift tool
>   3. Scrape again.
> 
> ALTERNATE SOLUTION
> swap reed with one of the pitch you want.
> 
> Robert Hale
> Serious Honkage in Arizona
> youtube.com/DUKEofWAIL
> DUKEofWAIL.com
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 6:20 PM, Bob Marsolais <bob at xxxxx> wrote:
> 
>> I have a couple of duplicate harps in the major tuning.  I'd like to try my
>> hand at retuning one of them to Country Tuning which means raising hole 5
>> draw by a semitone.  Having never tuned a harp before, how far up can you
>> retune a reed?
>> 
>> Thanks, Bob
>> 
>>