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From: Pat Missin
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 18:06:40 +0100
Subject: ZA5 deep cuts

>From: fjm/cja
>Date: Tue, 27 Aug 1996 09:28:44 -0700 (MST)
>Subject: ZA5 deep cuts
>
>I've never ever had a reed fail at the tuning marks. In over 20 years, I
>mean never. It's not in the realm of my experience. They always
>fracture about a 3rd of the way down from the fixed end. What happens to
>a chromatic I have no idea about. What happens to the diatonics I play I
>can safely say this, the tuning process doesn't have anything to do with
>why the reeds in my harmonicas fail. fjm
>

Curiouser and curiouser! To me, common sense dictates that, all other things
being equal, a reed that is nicely polished along its length *must* last
longer than one that is gashed across its width. This is backed up by my
experience and the experience of others - I wonder why your experience is so
different? Is it caused by driving on the other side of the road, or
something? :-)

Seriously, I'd like to know more - is this observation of your own harps, or
other people's? Which reeds fail most often? Come to think of it, most of
the failed reeds I've replaced have fractured at about 1/3rd of the length,
but that is often where the file gashes are... More info needed on this one.

And by the way, it was me who mentioned that Lee Oskars are tuned in equal
temperament. Just to check, I took an unused set of reedplates (key of B,
just for the record), mounted them on a comb and checked them against a
tuner. The tuning is not absolutely perfect, but the closest system would
seem to be equal temperament at A=444. Having said that, these plates are
dated 1988, so maybe things have changed in the last few years.


Pat Missin - pa~lobalnet.co.uk

"...my music's a lot better than it sounds!" (with apologies to Mark Twain)
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