[Harp-L] Nail polish and bubbles

Sébastien Frémal sebastien.fremal@xxxxx
Tue Jan 22 07:07:19 EST 2019


Hi !

I'm a young harmonicist. I began learning harmonica 6 years ago. I was
immediatly drawn by the overnotes as I play swing and Gypsy jazz with the
instrument. I have been customizing my harp since the begining. I'm only
speaking for Hohner models, I know that it's more difficult to set up a
Seydel harp for example.

To get overnotes and a really reactive harp, I only use two technics :
gapping and nail polish. Gapping is used to get easy overnotes. I never had
to use embossing or other technics. My harmonica could not be more reactive
than it is. I already ordered from most well-known customizers who all did
a wonderfull job, but I never got a harp which was more reactive than the
harps I set up.

The only problem is about the squealing. 4 and 6 overblows are generally ok
without intervention. But the 5 overblows and the overdraws squeal like
pig. I use nail polish at the base of the rivet to stabilize reeds and
avoid that squealing. It works great for the 5 overblow, the 7 and the 8
overdraws. For the 9th and 10th overdraw, it's a little more tricky. That's
why I thought about using the technic presented by Brendan Power to
increase the stability of the reeds. But I can find the art nail pen in
Belgium, I will have to order it on amazon...

Anyway, Charlier, who have much more experience, can stabilize reeds by
properly centering it and by using nail polish at the base of the rivet. So
I sometimes wonder if embossing and more advanced technics are still
necessary nowadays with mordern harps. Maybe with some poor models or with
some other brands. But my Special 20's, my Golden Melodies and my Rockets
have always been properly set up for overnotes with just gapping and nail
polish.

Sebastien


*S. Frémal*


*Harmoniciste*



*www.sebastienfremal.com <http://www.sebastienfremal.com>0495/14.85.07*


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Le mar. 22 janv. 2019 à 00:20, Vern <jevern at xxxxx> a écrit :

>
>
> > On Jan 21, 2019, at 10:32 AM, Rick Epping <rickepping at xxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > ……….I don’t think there’s really any question that more air leaks
> through the offset of the opposing, or opening reed than through the back
> third of the primary, or closing reed.  It seems obvious to me and Vern’s
> bubble test only confirms it. However, it also seems to me that more is at
> issue here than simply how much air is leaking into or out of the reed cell
> while a reed is playing.
> >
> > Free reeds produce sound in a manner similar to that of a pneumatic
> siren,
> > by repeatedly interrupting an airflow, creating alternating rarified and
> > compressed pulses of air.  The more effective a reed is in rapidly and
> > completely cutting off the airflow that passes through its slot, the more
> > defined are these air pulses and the better the reed will perform.  Air
> > leakage around the opposing reed will affect airflow within the reed cell
> > but not perhaps the air pulses exiting the slot of the primary reed.  A
> > harmonica reed, when properly voiced, enters its slot along its entire
> > length at the same moment, causing a rapid interruption of
> > airflow.  Sealing the gap at the back of a reed should help to achieve a
> > more complete interruption of airflow through the primary reed's slot.
> > Conversely, a reed with a curvature such that the middle of the reed
> passes
> > through the slot before the tip does, or vice versa, will have a
> relatively
> > poor signal-to-noise ratio – the noise being that breathy sound that
> > accompanies a badly adjusted harmonica.  Because the airflow is never
> > completely and/or is not rapidly interrupted, the reed will perform
> poorly
> > in terms of tone, response, bending and overblowing.
>
> I agree with most of the above.  Brendan based his claim on leakage and
> that is what I questioned.  Because his treatment affects only the least
> active third of the reed and slot, I infer that it will have a minimal,
> perhaps imperceptible, effect.
>
> I did not question reed voicing in general…only nail polish on the rivet
> third of the slot.
>
> This is what I would expect of embossing:
> - More frequent jamming of the reed by particles of dust, hair and food.
> - A slight (maybe imperceptible) increase in the energy in high overtones
> resulting in a more shrill tone. These changes could be in the
> “dog-whistle” range above the frequencies that old men can hear.
> - A slight (maybe imperceptible) improvement in reed efficiency.
> - Raised expectations resulting in subjective perceptions of improvement.
>
> Can you state values for typical clearances before and after embossing?
> My guess is that they could be about .0015” and .0005”
>
> Vern
>
>
>
>


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