Re: [Harp-L] Public Apology



> I think I get it, do you mean kind of copy the reedwork in a sense?

Zack,

Not so much to try and directly copy the reed work but to be able to
compare the playing characteristics of your harp to his to better
understand the subtleties of harp set up.

In my case, the first of my 4 Michalek GMs was a Bb (others A, C, D).
It instantly improved my playing. I then worked on a G GM that I had
and I was able to improve the out of the box performance
significantly.

I was concerned about losing my favourite Michalek Bb so got a Bb GM
to work on myself, to use as my banging around everywhere harp.
Through doing this and working on some others that I have, I've found
that for me, a harp that is set up so it is as sensitive as possible,
works best.

To achieve this, I emboss the slots as much as the reed will accept.
This means that I spend a lot of time and care relieving binding
areas, during the embossing process. I adjust the gap just enough so
that the reed plays with the least amount of air. If necessary, I arc
the reed slightly so that the tip has enough clearance. Otherwise, I
leave the reeds flat. You can start by doing minimal embossing and
adjusting the gaps. See how it plays and over time, you can do further
work as you desire.

My goal is to have the reeds increase smoothly in volume with an
increase in blow or draw force and to bend as smoothly as possible.
Another result of these modifications is being able to play
significantly longer blowing or drawing, without needing a breath (can
be as much as 50% longer). Likely my harps are set up to be too
sensitive for players that play with a lot of force. If my reeds fail
it will be because of them being played a lot rather than being played
too hard.

The main reason I think you'll find this project useful is that you'll
find that only you can fine tune your harps to best fit your unique
anatomical  and physiological characteristics and playing preferences.
Also, over time you'll go back and fine tune your work to adjust your
harp's performance. In the 4 months that I've had my Bb, I've worked
on it repeatedly and still need to work a bit more on holes 7 through
10. The payoff is an instrument that fits me and my playing optimally.
This is tough for a third party to do in one shot.

I will never modify Chris's as I want to have them as he set them up.
This gives me something with a slightly different feel to work on my
playing with. His are set up for his powerful playing and fabulous
tone. They require slightly more air to start a sound, but not much.

As an aside, I have some nearly new Hohners (Sp20, Blues Harp, GM, MB,
ProHarp) from the early 80s and they play horribly compared to what
Hohner now produces out of the box. Really leaky. When I have time,
I'll work on them and see what improvements are possible.



This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.