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From: Bobbie Giordano
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 16:13:48 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Ringing Reeds

I save way too many Harp-L messages!! Nevertheless, I was scouring my
mailer's inbox to weed out a few and came across many that caused me to
consider writing the list... ah yes! And thus, adding even MORE to the
bounty! Oh, well... anyway, there was this one from Pat Missin on May 3,
1999, that reminded me I've been reworking some of my own ideas regarding
a method I've suggested here for alleviating that annoying ringing sound
of the reeds you sometimes experience in harps... the Lee Oskars being
perhaps the most notorious for the problem. However, Pat was writing here
about sealing accordions and, by association, harps with beeswax....

Re: Beeswax Alternative? CAUTION
Pat wrote:
> Of the sixty reeds in this box (a one-row, four-stop, if you are
> interested), 14 of them did not sounds at all. I opened it up and had
> a look inside. The reedplates in this beast had been sealed into place
> using what I assume is beeswax and those reeds that did not sound were
> jammed as a result of wax that had melted and run into the reeds slots,
> gluing the reeds into place. When all of this was cleaned out, all the
> reeds played perfectly. I guess I will be sealing the plates into place
> this time using silicone...
>
> Anyway, this strikes me as having some relevance to the use of beeswax to
> seal harps. In the case of a harmonica, the wax would be a lot closer to
> the reeds than in this squeezebox, so the possibility of this happening
> might be even greater. Perhaps not such a problem if you live in Alaska,
> but if you live in Arizona, it's probabaly best not to leave your waxed
> harp in your car during mid-summer.

Now, to the ringing reed problem of LOs and others: First and incidentally,
this problem is not exclusive of any certain brands or types of harps....
as I've been experimenting with this irritant, I've found that just about
any reed can be made to squeal this way, including on chromatics.

Also, it has been reported here onlist a while back that it is the reed
opposite to the sounding reed in a hole which does the ringing... as in an
overblow, that it is supposedly the blow reed doing it [because the draw
reed is actually the one which sounds the overblow note.]

Nope... this is wrong. It IS the draw reed doing it. And on a regular
drawbend, it IS again the draw reed doing it.... on a blowbend, it IS the
blow reed doing it. I've spent quite a bit of time confirming this with
testing. As a result, I must say, I'm getting pretty damned good at making
this awful "whine" at will on fairly any harmonica! Yep, I can even make
the Renny ring!!! And BTW, if you think about it, being able to make a
chromatic reed squeal like that is evidence that it IS the reed that is
mainly in action that is doing it... because, since these are [normally]
valved instruments, only one reed is playing in a hole at one time, and
must therefore be the one doing the squealing.

I will admit that sometimes the reed opposite the most active reed also
squeals, but it is usually accompanied by the active reed's ringing... it
is just that the reed put in play is the one that most readily will begin
to howl with this annoying, high-pitched additive... getting them BOTH to
go at it is especially abrasive!!

SO!... Pat found a method of mitigating this effect by using nail polish,
sometime back before I independently stumbled on the notion to try to fix
this problem with beeswax.... both of us applying the substance[s] in the
same area... in the small corners created by the root of the reed and its
reedpad on either side of the reed. Both of us have written about our
methods onlist so they're archived... usually under "nail polish fix" or
"wax fix".

I've used both methods... I have mixed feelings about both. I feel the
nail polish does not penetrate between the reed and reedplate surfaces as
well as melted beeswax, but acts more as a surface damper which thus,
nevertheless, quiets the errant vibrations causing the ringing. Beeswax,
as I've used it, when melting seems almost to have an affinity with brass,
which has a good aspect, in that it seeps deeply into the area being
treated, but OTOH, causes problems if too much is used, as it tends to
suddenly flow across anything made of brass like a river! This can clog
the slot/reed area [muffling the reed's sound,] affect the reed's pitch,
and generally make a small mess of things to be cleaned up, taking more
time, of course. Thus, beeswax is not as easy to apply and manipulate as
nail polish... an important thing to consider anytime.

Also, sadly, neither technique, in my experiments, is completely successful
in eradicating the possibility of this ring or whistle. So... I still am
wondering exactly what is causing it, because although a player can even
adjust technique [and usually for the overall improvement of the player's
sound, luckily] to ameliorate this condition, to me, this is a flaw of some
kind in reed design, plate design, or assembly factors. It does seem to
happen more with certain harps; maybe even more with reeds which have that
step up to the pad from the reed root more rounded than square cut [as in
Hohners;] and I also suspect culprits may be in the rivetting [Siegfried
once recommended just giving the reed a sharp rap with a small hammer to
better settle the rivet in its fastening role,] or in the distance of the
rivet from the edge of the slot, thus affecting the overlaying area of the
pad on the reedplate... or... or.... All of which, I have been developing
theories about, of course!

Well, I still have ideas. I'm not giving up. But I will say that I have
to agree with Pat about how Beeswax has the problem of migrating in heat
that may make it not the best choice for the solution, and in fact, think
I may not be using either solution too much longer. I've been experimenting
with another possibility, because this problem is not usually universally
occurring over the whole harp, but some reeds [usually higher pitched ones]
more than others. And instead, I've been trying more mechanical solutions
that seem to hold lots of promise... that is, I've had successes veritably
removing the tendency for this annoying ringing from quite a number of
reeds. But, I'm not totally sure yet if this is the right track either...

So, for now, I guess it'll just have to be "more news when there is news..."

[But jeeeez.... it is an obnoxious noise, isn't it??]

Harp on, H-Lers!

________ ___________________________________________________________
=[ BOBBIE ]= ==================================== * Harp Spoken Here *
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