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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Low F Harp
Low F Harp
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Destin
126 posts
May 10, 2015
7:58 PM
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I'm having fun playing some slow blues on a stock low F Special 20. So what's it take to get these things to overblow better?
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STME58
1302 posts
May 10, 2015
10:47 PM
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I find the lower harps a bit harder to overblow, I have Seydel Nobel Low F and a crossover G and they do ok. Sometimes a bit of reed adjustment is necessary even with good quality harps. There seems to be a relationship between skill and setup. As my skill with overblows improves, I can do it on harps that are not set up as well. I am still not consistent with oveblows, and overdraws are worse, but I have found that having the exact pitch I want in my head before I try to sound the note really helps.
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florida-trader
690 posts
May 12, 2015
10:28 AM
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STME58 is correct that overblows on low tuned harps are harder. However, OverDraws are easier. That’s because the 7-10 reeds kinda fall in that sweet spot of being the right size, weight and length reeds that are easier to bend. So if you want to learn to overdraw, a low tuned harp is great place to start and develop the feel for it.
Destin - Here are few things that you can do that might help. The very first and easiest thing to do is adjust the gaps. Gapping refers to the distance between the tip of the reed and the reed plate. Overblows require you to set the gaps a little tighter (narrower) than “normal”. Tighter gaps make it easier to stall out the blow reed and force the draw reed to work in an opening type of action. It is the draw reed that produces the sound when overblowing.
Second – Reed Profiling. Reed profiling refers to the shape of the reed. Ideally you want the entire reed to enter the slot simultaneously. If the reed is curved then one part will enter the slot before the others. You can change the shape of the reed by gently massaging the reed in the opposite direction of the curve while holding the tip of the reed in a fixed position. After you have done this then you will probably have to re-adjust the gap.
Third, it helps to have a good airtight seal between the comb and the reed plates. It is not possible to flat sand the stock Special 20 comb but you can flat sand the draw plate. There’s no guarantee this is the solution but in the event that the draw plate is not flat it can help you make the harp more airtight.
Fourth, if you are adventurous, you can emboss the reed slots. I won’t go into the details of how to do that here. There is a ton of information on YouTube that will show you how to emboss reed slots. This will decrease the space between the reed and the reed slots. (Gapping just refers to the tip of the reed) The general idea is to eliminate as many leaks as you can so that rather than escaping, more of your breath will act on the reeds.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
Last Edited by florida-trader on May 12, 2015 10:48 AM
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barbequebob
2912 posts
May 12, 2015
11:05 AM
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Just to jump in here in regards to the comb. Many people have a tendency to think that with a plastic comb, it's always perfectly flat, never warps or cracks, but you have to remember, plastic combs start out as a petroleum based liquid that gets poured into an injection mold and there's no more of a guarantee that it will dry perfectly flat than any wood comb ever will be cut and sanded perfectly flat on an assembly line and upon a very close inspection, you may find out how often such combs aren't as flat as you think they are and if the mold doesn't dry out properly, all sorts of imperfections are gonna be there, like it or not.
One thing you should periodically check for is if the reed plate screws haven't gotten loose and periodically, they should be tightened to just hand tight, but if you overtighten the screws, you can strip the screws or the the screw holes and that can cause air leakage.
One tightening the gap to make it more overblow friendly, you must be aware that if you're a really hard player, the tighter gap necessary to make overblows work properly also means in the hands of a really hard player, the reed will more easily choke up and blank out.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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