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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Hohner reed chart Hz?
Hohner reed chart Hz?
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Shredder
381 posts
Jul 17, 2013
11:13 AM
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Was ordering some reeds and noticed the tuning was set at 443 Hz. I got a hohner chart off this fourm and it stated to set tuner at 442 Hz. What is the factory setting for S/P20, Marine band, G/M. I assume it's 443 Hz. For years now I thought it was 442 Hz. What you guy's using on Hohner harps?
Mike
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arzajac
1106 posts
Jul 17, 2013
11:54 AM
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If you buy reeds from Hohner (or any other company) and pop them into a harp, I guarantee you are going to need to tune them up or down. If I had to pick a number, I would say it's within 10 cents of the desired pitch. That's about as accurate as you can expect due to the tolerances of manufacturing and installation.
As for what your reference A4 is tuned to, it depends on the harp model. I'm pretty sure the Golden Melody is tuned to A=443 while the other types are A=442. Seydel uses A=443 as their standard. The crossover actually is 442 on the blow and 443 (or a little higher) on the draw. The reason for that, I believe, is to adjust the pitch of the 2 draw to match the pitch of the 3 blow. Most people tend to draw harder than they blow and flatten the 2 draw note more than the 3 blow, hence tuning it slightly (4 cents) higher.
But more importantly, what sounds best for you? If you play with a band, tweak your harps to sound best when you play with them. That could mean ET at 444Hz or JI at 440 for example - neither are wrong or right, it depends on your style.
If you never play accompanied, then it doesn't matter what your reference is, as long as you are in tune with yourself. Make sure your chords sound nice and don't worry too much about what your reference A4 is at.
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Custom overblow harps. Harmonica service and repair.
Last Edited by arzajac on Jul 17, 2013 11:56 AM
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MP
2839 posts
Jul 17, 2013
1:40 PM
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Ah Shredder! There you are! Howzit?!
yeep, Andrew is probably right as i believe he owns a strobe tuner. I am in agreement, like Andrew says- that even the tuning on brand new reeds is all over the place. 10 cents sharp is a conservative estimate, in my view.
i set GMs to 442 or 443 depending on the key. I also make my personal ones Compromise cuz i don't like the stock ET tuning. To me, in certain cases,443 for GMs a good idea as i think they are dull sounding in the lower keys.
i saw a tuning chart on the Bushman site once.
I downloaded it for reference. A lot of harmonicas (including the Crossovers) tuning specs were posted by BBQBob. They were amended by Steve Baker whom designed the Crossover. He said that when tuning a Crossover, set your tuner to 443=0.
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MP
affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info-
repair videos on YouTube.
you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
Last Edited by MP on Jul 17, 2013 1:41 PM
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Shredder
382 posts
Jul 18, 2013
6:44 AM
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Good morning fellows! Thanks for the replys. The tuning chart I have is one of Bob's, it says set tuner to 442Hz. I understand the new reeds will not be right on when 1st installed. I would rather them be flat than sharp. I done't like scraping up in the flex section of the reed. Thats just asking for falure down the road, but what ever it takes you have to do it. I lean more towards the 443Hz because it's brighter and resonates more to my ear. I have gotten to where I like using 443Hz in more places in the lower keys. Like Ya'll say what ever sounds good with the band is where you need to be. Like Mark says I have some G/M's tuned to "Just innotation" and leave some stock for playing in diffrent styles of music. Havn't tried the "7J" tuning yet, maybe some day. I admire you guy's that do reed changes for work. I can do it but I really done't like it, to time consuming and teeadious. I do get that feeling of satisfaction when I fix one and bring it back to life, kinda makes me grin that I saved some $ and revived an old friend.
Thanks for all the help over the years thats been posted on this fourm, Iv'e learned a lot. Yeah Mark, I'm still around just been buisy giging and trying to deal with my day job obligations. 4 more years and I have my 80 points, wooo hoo, take this job and shove it!
Hope Ya'll have a great day, Mike
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