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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Tuning Charts
Tuning Charts
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Ugly Bones Ryan
116 posts
Sep 27, 2014
3:13 PM
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Does anyone have a tuning chart for Golden Melodies, Hohner Crossovers, and Hohner Marine Bands? I need to know how much sharper and how much flatter I need to make each note.
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http://www.murraythewheel.com/
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dougharps
739 posts
Sep 27, 2014
3:24 PM
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Here is a chart posted by Barbeque Bob on another site:
BBQ Bob's tuning chart
I remembered it and Googled for it...
No affiliation, etc.
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Doug S.
Last Edited by dougharps on Sep 27, 2014 3:26 PM
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arzajac
1483 posts
Sep 27, 2014
5:06 PM
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Crossover Tuning: Steve Baker posted the following on Harp-L:
0=443Hz w. minimal air pressure, all deviations are in cents, 1Hz = approx. 4 cents on most tuners
Blow reed plate:
Root notes (1, 4, 7 & 10) tuned to 0
Thirds (2, 5 & 8) minus 5 cents
Fifths (3, 6 & 9) + 1 cent
Draw reed plate:
1-draw is very difficult to measure accurately. With absolutely minimal air pressure maybe +8 cents, more in low keys. Like that it will sound right with normal air pressure. It's essential that it sounds good when played together with 2-draw and as an octave interval with 4-draw.
2-draw + 4-6 cents depending on the key, at normal air pressure it should sound at the same pitch as 3-blow
3- & 7-draw tuned to 0
4- & 8-draw 1 cent higher than 2-draw (i.e. + 5-7 cents)
5- & 9-draw + 2 cents (this will mean the 7th chord sounds rough, but sounds better as a single note. You can even tune it a little higher if you prefer that sound)
6- & 10-draw 1 cent higher than 4-draw (i.e. + 6-8 cents)
It's highly recommended to check that all perfect intervals (octaves, fifths and fourths) sound without interference beats. This is what
piano tuners do too. You'll find it's damnably difficult to obtain constant readings from your tuner and I can only recommend playing very softly indeed and holding the note for a long time so you get a fairly clear note value. I use a Korg MT-1200 tuner with a built-in spread which tunes the upper octaves slightly sharper (as do piano tuners) and use the smallest spread the machine offers. It's hard to work to this degree of accuracy with a tuner which only shows Hz values.
Hope this will be of assistance,
Steve Baker
www.stevebaker.de
www.bluesculture.com
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Custom overblow harps. Harmonica service and repair.
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arzajac
1484 posts
Sep 27, 2014
5:11 PM
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Steve Baker's description is a lot more useful than tuning charts!
Don't tune by the numbers. The numbers will be need to be higher in the low octave and lower in the top. Tune the middle octave and then tune the notes on the extremities (low octave and high octave) to match the pitch when played with the same breath (as an octave). When played on their own, they will generate confusing readings on a tuner.
Tune a harmonica using your ears and a simple chromatic tuner
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Custom overblow harps. Harmonica service and repair.
Last Edited by arzajac on Sep 27, 2014 5:18 PM
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arzajac
1485 posts
Sep 27, 2014
5:38 PM
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( I apologize for the triple post but I keep getting interrupted and I don't want to keep going back and editing a post to add to it...)
Steve Baker's approach to the draw plate just plain works. The tonic is the 2 draw. It's the same note as the 3 blow. The 3 blow is the fifth on the blow plate. Tonic at zero and fifth is plus one. So the three blow is plus one because it's a fifth and plus another couple of cents because it is in the low octave (plus 4-6 cents once all is said and done).
The only way to meet all the conditions you need to meet at the same time is to make the 2 draw match the 3 blow which is around plus 4 cents. So your whole blow plate is tuned about 4 cents higher.
The fifths on the draw plate are the 1 draw, the four draw and the 8 draw. They need to be one cent higher than the 2 draw.
Thirds on the blow plate are minus 5. On the draw plate, they are minus 4 or so. (Really, they are zero but the tonic is plus 4, so relative to the tonic, it's minus 4 - get it?)
4-5-6 draw is a minor chord with its tonic being the 4. That means the 6 draw is (another) fifth, hence it's plus one relative to the 4 draw. 10 draw matches 6 draw.
...lots to chew on! But my point is that it's better (faster, easier) to rely on a method (i.e. an algorithm) rather than a chart.
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Custom overblow harps. Harmonica service and repair.
Last Edited by arzajac on Sep 27, 2014 5:41 PM
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