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From: WVE~ol.com
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 13:21:03 -0400
Subject: Re: Reed fatigue revisited

In a message dated 96-10-02 04:17:06 EDT, you write:

>
>If budget is a real problem, play your harps easier, and take a full week
>to gently break them in, with no bending during that time. This advice
>courtesy of Rick Epping of Hohner - he says that it allows the reeds time
>to adjust to being played. Sounds reasonable to me, especially coming
>from "the horses mouth" as it were. While I don't take a week to break
>mine in, I do find that they last me a _lot_ longer if I don't play them
>for a couple of days but instead hold them out the car windo~>40 mph
>for around 15 minutes per side, per day. I've also tried using a fan to
>move air through new harps, and yes it works, too. I know better than to
>try to break mine in by playing them gently. I'm kinda the "Tina Turner"
>of harp breaking-in - I don't do NUTHIN nice and easy. (And no I don't
>have her legs, either, wiseguy).
>
>Disclaimer: certain others say I'm full of hot air (great for playing
>harp, though ;-) and breaking in does nothing for them. All I know is
>that MY harps last measurably longer, and that's all that really matters
>to me.
>
I recently had the opportunity to ask about breaking in metal parts of a
professor of materials engineering at Univ Cal Irvine. She said that she
knew of no break-in effect where gentle cycling of a new metal part would
improve its fatigue life. I have not been able to find any such effect in my
own search of the literature. Must we not conclude that the break-in ritual
affects the player and not the harp?

Vern