Fwd: [Harp-L] New to the list - fixing your Bushman Soul's Voice



Kris - 

If a reed breaks off, it was already fractured. Brass is spring
material and fairly pliable. You can break an otherwise undamaged
reed, but it takes a fairly concerted effort and more violence than
you might think.

The reed that has gone flat may have life in it and might be tuned up
by sanding a small amount off the surface of the reed near the tip -
but not sanding the tip away; you don't want to shorten the reed, just
make it thinner at a strategic point - tip to raise pitch, root to lower.

A reed that has dipped slightly in pitch may be profitably re-tuned.
However, a significant drop in pitch is another sign of a fractured
reed that is about to break.

As to replacement reeds, you can, as suggested by others, simply buy a
new harp - of whatever model you prefer. Or you could:

1) Replace the reedplate that had the broken reed if the manufacturer
offers them - you can buy an individual blow or draw reedplate for the
Soul's Voice:

http://www.harpdepot.com/bush-dia.cfm

2) Replace the dead reed with a good reed from another harp that has
been put out of commission due to a different reed having died. The
same key and model of harp is the best bet for finding a reed of the
right size and pitch, though sometimes a cross-species transplant is
possible. Reed replacement requires some skill, along with tools for
punching out the tiny rivets in both the donor harp and the harp under
repair, then accurately rerevieting the donor reed into the receiving
harp. This is certainly learnable - if I can do it, anyone can - but
may be beyond your willingness at this point.

Winslow

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Kris Atha" <Kris.Atha@...> wrote:

Hello everyone.

I've only been subscribing to this list for a few days, but have really
enjoyed the posts so far. Just wanted to introduce myself and also ask a
question.

As my email address suggests, my name is Kris Atha and I live in Iowa. I'm
married with three kids and work for a sports-lighting company in the
marketing department. And, just so you know, I am a male -- spelling of my
name sometimes throws people off.

I've been messing around trying to learn how to play the harmonica off and
on for several years now. I'm not terrible but have a LONG way to go.

Now my question, and please forgive me if I don't use the correct
terminology.

I have a Bushman Soul's Voice in the key of D that has a flat 7 blow reed.
Is there a way to correct that or do I just buy replacement reeds?

Oh yeah, I should probably mention I had a 6 draw reed on my G that
wouldn't play and broke it off yesterday trying to "fix" it.

I guess I'm just looking for any tips on technique and tools to be able to
do a little minor correction stuff myself -- if it's possible to correct
at all.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kris

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--- End forwarded message ---









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