Dox
11 posts
Aug 27, 2017
10:55 AM
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Hi!
Just for curiosity: which is the time-to-life of your reeds? Me, typically I broke a 2nd draw one/two time in a year in the harps which I use often...
Bye
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STME58
2023 posts
Aug 27, 2017
11:18 AM
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It all depends on how you play. WHen I was learning I had reeds last less than a week. Now it is usually a year or more between repairs. WHen you learn you don't need to blow hard to get volume or to bend, the reeds start lasting longer. Resonance, not brute force.
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AppalachiaBlues
46 posts
Aug 27, 2017
12:15 PM
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I very rarely break a reed. Maybe I have broken one reed every 2 years, on the average, over the past 10 years. As STME58 says, it depends a lot on how you play.
However, I do experience reeds going out of tune - mostly the Hohner brass reeds. (Only rarely do my Seydel steel reeds and Suzuki bronze reeds go out of tune).
Last Edited by AppalachiaBlues on Aug 27, 2017 12:16 PM
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LevelUp
2 posts
Aug 27, 2017
12:17 PM
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2 years, though I break reeds on occasion when working on a harp!
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hvyj
3462 posts
Aug 27, 2017
2:00 PM
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On harps that get very heavy use, maybe one every 5 years or so. But I am not hard on harps. It's not just the volume thing. I play with a pretty agressive attack to the extent that I need to gap reeds a little higher to keep them from blanking out. It's not how loud you play--it's HOW you play. If you produce all air pressure from the diaphram, keep an open throat and a dropped jaw, and bend from deep in your mouth/throat, you can play pretty damn hard without putting stess on the reeds.
If you are doing it correctly and maintaining a deep embouchure, it feels like there is a direct connection between the reeds and your diaphrgm which seem to be linked by the column of air.
Suzuki reeds are more durable than Hohner. But, eventually, all reeds need to be re-tuned.
Last Edited by hvyj on Aug 27, 2017 2:06 PM
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nacoran
9588 posts
Aug 27, 2017
5:16 PM
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I've only ever blown two reeds, one on a harp when I was playing with guys who were amped and I wasn't, and once when I was seeing just how hard I'd have to blow to blow a reed.
I've destroyed some tinkering, and one poor Lee Oskar died in the wash cycle when I left it in my pants on laundry day.
I've had reeds that stopped responding well that I thought were busted, but it always ended up being something more mundane, like pocket lint or gapping. (I thought I'd done something to my 2 draw on my D Lee Oskar the other day, but it must have just been crud, because it's playing fine now).
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STME58
2024 posts
Aug 27, 2017
8:39 PM
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It has only been recently, since I have learned to play with much lower breath force, that I have had a reed go out of tune in a way that it can be rocovered by fileing. In the past, once a reed went flat, fileing it would only last for about a minute or two. You could actually hear it getting flatter while holding a long note. I assume this was because there was a crack propogating across the reed. Many times they would break when trying to tune them.
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groyster1
3000 posts
Aug 30, 2017
7:20 AM
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I use small amount of wind,which some in this forum disagree with,I have blown 2 5 draws in suzuki folkmasters.....must be very weak reeds for me to have done that
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Gnarly
2294 posts
Aug 30, 2017
3:37 PM
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Folkmasters are from China, not Japanese. Much less expensive.
I recommend a Manji, hey, one year warranty.
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MP
3457 posts
Aug 30, 2017
5:30 PM
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----------Typical breaks are #4 draw and #5 draw. Did you mean you broke the #2 draw? I don't think you mean that reed because while they can be broken they are pretty tough reeds.
Reasonably priced Reed Replacement and tech support on Hand Made Series Hohner Diatonic Harmonicas.
'Making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time.
Click MP for more info. Aloha Mark
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