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Date: Mon, 04 Mar 2002 13:04:04 -0500
From: Pat Missin
Subject: RE: Mellow Tone Reed Slot Size

Bobbie wrote:

>>Doesn't sound like there would be much of a reason to get a Mellow Tone
>>anymore, as it's probably pretty close to the 270, except for the plating.
>>Does the plating make much difference?
>
>:) Wellll.... "Some" of us may think so. Soundwise, Douglas is not
>so sure, but does acknowledge the plating has a minute affect on the
>tolerances of the reeds in the slots.

I'd go along with that.

>I think it might, but then I
>got into a "discussion" some time back with Vern Smith about whether
>aluminum combs might affect the harmonica's sound differently than,
>say, wood... um, we know where that led, don't we? :)))

That's a somewhat different issue. In this case, the plating makes a
tiny (but measurable) difference to the efficiency of the reed, by
reducing the gap around the edges of the reed. However, if you were to
claim that the surface of the chrome plated reedplate somehow
reflected the sound in a different fashion to a plain brass plate, I
might not agree so readily!

> Some day, though, I would like to
>get some hard evidence of these ideas with an oscilloscope or
>something.

An oscilloscope is not going to tell you much about the harmonic
content of a tone - what you need is a spectrum analyser. There are...
ahem... a few people who've used such devices to study harmonicas...

>>How similar are the 64, Super 64 plates and reeds to the Hard Bopper? (I
>>know, the 64 plates are longer and have an extra octave! But, besides
>>that?)
>
>Douglas Tate, Winslow Yerxa, Pat Missin ... they might know these
>figures off the tops of their heads. Not me ...

The reeds of a long slot 12-hole chromatic are the same as the reeds
in holes 4 - 15 of a 64-type chrom.

The reeds of a short slot 12-hole chrom would be the same the as the
reeds in holes 6 - 17 of a 64 - if a 64 had 17 holes!

Does this make sense?

FWIW, I give the actual slot lengths for a wide variety of different
harps in the file slots.txt, part of my "Altered States" collection:

http://www.patmissin.com/as22.zip

>I'd have to do some
>measuring and find out for sure, but I do know the Super 64s and 64X
>have thicker reedplates for the lower holes,

The 64X has a double thick reedplate for the lower reeds, but doesn't
the Super 64 have the same reedplate as the regular 64? I don't have
one in front of me to double-check.

-- Pat.