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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Stuck Draw 3
Stuck Draw 3
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flbluesharp
12 posts
Dec 08, 2015
5:50 AM
Hi everyone, I have a stuck 3 draw on my crossover. I'm sure it's probably my technique as I'm still a beginner. I can't see anything on the Reed and it seems to be structurally intact, not sure what the fix would be. Any help would be much appreciated.

Last Edited by flbluesharp on Dec 08, 2015 5:51 AM
Mahcks
60 posts
Dec 08, 2015
5:53 AM
If it's clean, and it plinks fine, I would suspect that the gap is too narrow.

Another thing to think about is the weather. When it's cold out your breath is going to jam up the reeds with condensation really fast.

Last Edited by Mahcks on Dec 08, 2015 6:07 AM
flbluesharp
13 posts
Dec 08, 2015
6:07 AM
What's strange is it just happened kind of all of the sudden.
Mahcks
61 posts
Dec 08, 2015
6:14 AM
Not as strange as you might think. Reeds can be finicky. Is it possible you misaligned the reed on accident while you had it apart? Were you playing too hard? Sometimes if I miss an overblow with enough force it'll change the gap of my blow reed and make it stick.

Last Edited by Mahcks on Dec 08, 2015 6:21 AM
flbluesharp
14 posts
Dec 08, 2015
6:19 AM
My guess is I was probably playing too hard
Gnarly
1543 posts
Dec 08, 2015
6:50 AM
Like Mahcks said, remove the cover plates and try freeing the reed with a single edged razor blade or pen knife--"plink" the reed by allowing it to slap down with enough force to create a chiming note.
You won't break a reed by plinking unless it was already dead (I posted a video here recently documenting this phenomenon, look for the thread called How My Day Is Going) or you have a sadistic streak and just want to destroy a reed (hmmm, more topics for videos).
And "mind the gap" LOL
The harder you want to play, the bigger the gap needs to be.

Last Edited by Gnarly on Dec 08, 2015 6:52 AM
arzajac
1712 posts
Dec 08, 2015
7:10 AM
Take a look at what's happening. Use this view to see EXACTLY what the reed is doing as it moves:



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flbluesharp
15 posts
Dec 08, 2015
8:00 AM
Thanks Andrew, the reed seems to move in and out of the slot ok and there is a definite sound when I plink it.
arzajac
1713 posts
Dec 08, 2015
8:16 AM
flbluesharp, consider the opposite reed, too. If you are having trouble with a sluggish draw reed, the problem may be the blow reed is too widely gapped, for example...

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Custom overblow harps. Harmonica Combs and Tools.
flbluesharp
16 posts
Dec 08, 2015
8:21 AM
I was wondering about that, I'll check it out
flbluesharp
17 posts
Dec 08, 2015
8:50 AM
Blow reed gap is fine, was a little piece of something in it so I got that out. Now the draw reed makes a sound if I draw really hard, but still sounds like a dying cow.

Last Edited by flbluesharp on Dec 08, 2015 10:43 AM
flbluesharp
18 posts
Dec 08, 2015
11:40 AM
Ok, after plinking about 50 times it seems like the 3 draw is back when I play it lip pursed, but still basically no existant tongue blocked.
barbequebob
3065 posts
Dec 08, 2015
11:56 AM
Drawing real hard, which is also using too much breath force, is flat out bad playing technique that that alone ruins far more harps than manufacturing defects, real or perceived, ever will a hundred times over, plus it will automatically make you sound like a really horrible harp player as well. When you play too hard, you will also have yourself problems with moisture as you're often gonna be playing with an extremely wet mouth and what is happening is that you're clogging up the reed with dried on saliva and/or layers of dead skin and it takes very little to clog up a reed so it doesn't play at all and the more that builds up, the quicker the reed will also go out of tune. Again, too much breath force is bad playing technique.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
nacoran
8812 posts
Dec 08, 2015
1:06 PM
Try playing with less force, diagnostically. If it responds to less force better then you either need to play with less force or raise the gap a little.

I won't go as far as BBQ and say using more breath is bad technique because there are players out there who use a lot of force who get good sound (certain marathon running harpists, for instance) but Bob gets really good results with light breath and although I really like the playing of certain marathon running harpists I personally use more Bob like technique (I can't afford to blow out harps!).

:)

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