woodnacho
4 posts
Feb 04, 2018
7:36 PM
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For those who have altered the pitch of a reed with Blu-Tak or equivalent... Have you noticed a difference in the responsiveness of the reed? I've tried this method a few times but have always noticed that the reed has lost alot of brightness and responsiveness. I place the tak and the very end of the reed, altering it only by a 1/2 step or whole step and I always have the same problem with a slightly 'dead' sounding reed. It still sounds the correct pitch but it loses some sustain and responsiveness. Is there something I am doing wrong?
I have also experimented with using 'post-it' note paper. Cutting a small square of the sticky side and placing it on the tip of the reed... same issue. Any ideas?
Last Edited by woodnacho on Feb 04, 2018 7:36 PM
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indigo
462 posts
Feb 04, 2018
9:29 PM
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Maybe it is just the change in pitch that you are hearing/feeling?
Add some weight to any reed and it is going to react differently than it did before the weight was added.
If you are adding 'tak to a reed it is lowering the pitch and ipso facto altering the responsiveness of that reed to some degree.
It's like blow one on a G harp requires a different embouchure than (say) blow 6 on a C harp.
I've used Blu-tak for years and have had the same experience. But you do learn to adapt to the subtle difference between it and just replacing the reed with one in the correct pitch.
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boris_plotnikov
1156 posts
Feb 05, 2018
3:51 AM
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Almost 1/3 of my working harmonicas are blue-taked to dorian tuning (3 and 7 draw are half tone down). I don't see any differences. Try to remove blue-tak from the edge of the reed (and especially from the end of the tip).
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florida-trader
1266 posts
Feb 05, 2018
7:29 AM
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My opinion. Blue Tack is good for experimenting, but soldering is so easy, why not just do that when you are making a permanent alteration? Just sayin.......
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Tom Halchak
Blue Moon Harmonicas
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isaacullah
3263 posts
Feb 05, 2018
8:01 AM
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I've done blutak tuning on a lot of harps, and agree with Boris. Keep it away from the edges, and it's fine. Pretty stable, but don't keep your harps in a hot car!
Tom: what kind of solder do you use? Just everyday rosin core solder you would use for electronics? And do you use a regular electronics soldering iron?
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Last Edited by isaacullah on Feb 05, 2018 8:03 AM
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dougharps
1710 posts
Feb 05, 2018
8:10 AM
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I first tried Blu-Tak to retune several diatonics to the tuning Todd Parrott sometimes uses, thread on TP tuning I had retuned one by removing metal from the rivet end of a LO, but on my SP20s I wanted to use weight on the free end to retune.
Blu-Tak worked well, no noticeable timbre issues. I later removed the Blu-Tak when I determined I would seldom use the tuning and I needed the harps for regular use.
Then I transplanted a reed in a G Hohner 270 chromatic. The reed fit, but was too high in pitch. I used Blu-Tak to bring the pitch down. That was several years ago, and it is still working fine.
Be sure to keep the Blu-Tak back a little from the reed edge.
With regard to soldering, there are some issues to beware. 1) If you use lead solder you may be exposing yourself to lead, especially if you have to remove some; 2) If you use silver solder it is more expensive and I believe requires higher temperatures (Tom, correct me if I am wrong); 3) You must be very careful to not let the solder spread over the reed edges and interfere with the swing of the reed, or attach to the plate; 4) Soldering takes a higher level of skill to perform correctly, and Blu-Tak takes less skill and is easily reversible.
That being said, if you are retuning an entire instrument or many reeds, and want a sense of permanency to your mod, solder may be the way to go. Soldering is pretty permanent, and an error can be difficult to correct.
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Doug S.
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florida-trader
1267 posts
Feb 05, 2018
8:20 AM
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Definietly use non-leaded silver solder. Definitely be careful not to slobber it all over the edge of the reed or reed slot. Even if you do, it is not difficult to clean up the edges. I just don't find it difficult to do, so that's what I do. Like a lot of other things we do to read plates, if you have never done it, there is a certain fear factor, but once you take the leap, you find out that there really wasn't much to be worried about.
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Tom Halchak
Blue Moon Harmonicas
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dougharps
1714 posts
Feb 05, 2018
12:48 PM
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If you plan on doing it a lot, I agree that solder is superior and it is worth building those skills. If I worked on harps for a living or was modifying my harps a lot I would build those skills.
For occasional jobs or experimenting, I think Blu-Tak is OK, and has held up for me.
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Doug S.
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JSalow
31 posts
Feb 05, 2018
12:53 PM
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I bebop tuned my Chromonica with blu tak (well, really white). I have not noticed any difference in timbre or responsiveness. To my ears, the slide in 3 draw Bb sounds absolutely identical to the blue taked 4 blow. It's such an incredibly small amount needed for that tuning, which may explain it.
Last Edited by JSalow on Feb 05, 2018 7:00 PM
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John M G
189 posts
Feb 05, 2018
3:46 PM
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I've used instant cyano glue and use a tooth pick to place a drop in position so it doesn't get near the reed edges. It's an alternative and very easy. You can pick it off with a scalpel blade if you want to change it.
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Bilzharp
154 posts
Feb 05, 2018
7:02 PM
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"Definietly use non-leaded silver solder."
Tom, What silver solder do you use? Is it flux core or do you use a paste? There seem to be a lot of different products called silver solder, some which contain a fair amount of lead. Most seem to recommend using a torch instead of a soldering iron but I can't imagine that's what people are doing on a harmonica reed. It has a considerably higher melting point than tin/lead solder. What iron do you use? I'd like to give it a try. I made a low F and low F# harp from a couple old G Marine Bands using Richard Sleigh's draw scraper but it was a lot of work and, I suspect, significantly weakened the reeds near the pivot point. A little more than what the reed scraper is designed for.
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indigo
464 posts
Feb 05, 2018
9:17 PM
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I can't see why you'd want to use solder on reeds?
I have harps that were Blu tak'ed years ago and it is still there doin' its job.
Like Boris they are mainly Harps set up for 3rd position but i could pick up one and change it back to standard in what..2 minutes?
As far as lead goes if you are only an occasional solderer whacking a bit on now and again, you will likely get more lead in your system from just breathing in most places.
Blue Tak is just so easy and reversible i can't understand why anyone would bother with soldering?
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isaacullah
3264 posts
Feb 05, 2018
9:34 PM
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Lots of good info in this thread! I have a high wattage soldering station, so I'm probably reasonably set up to do solder tuning. Blutak is pretty darn easy though, and I'm kinda lazy, lol! Any tips on a specific brand of silver solder to use would be appreciated, just so I know what to look for if I decide to go down this road. :)
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STME58
2049 posts
Feb 06, 2018
12:14 AM
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Solder works great for brass reads, but not so much on stainless. There may be a way to solder stainless, but when I tried it with electical solder and soldering equipment, it did not work at all. I don't know if I had the wrong flux, the wrong solder, the wrong temperature, or all that and more.
Last Edited by STME58 on Feb 06, 2018 12:21 AM
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John M G
190 posts
Feb 06, 2018
2:28 AM
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STME58 You have to use phosphoric acid as a flux with stainless steel.
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Martin
1390 posts
Feb 06, 2018
5:19 AM
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If I was to take a C harp and apply Blu-Tak (or whatever it is that´s corresponding to it here in Sweden -- you can´t get Blu-Tak) on the lowest reed, i.e. C, blow 1, how deep can it go?
As I understand it, re-tuning a C harmonica to say, the "B-thing" tuning is not feasible, but can I get at least some of that deep bend effect?
I ask because I´m not very practical and all matters of this kind comes with a certain measure of pain and I don´t undertake them lightly.
(B-thing tuning is used by Carlos del Junco on an E harp. Sounds really cool.)
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snowman
315 posts
Feb 06, 2018
9:16 AM
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This is why I love this sight-
A few years back, I became compulsive about setting up harps for overblows and OD- In the process I realized, I didn't play the regular notes that well, so why obsess on OB and OD set up and or playing OB and OD;
Anyway I learned lot about set up etc and how to re-place reeds. I still tune my 7 draw a 1/2 step down on all harps except my folky ,rack harps for Neil Young Dylan etc----------
But I never tried adding weight with this stuff, as opposed to taking metal off
I PLEAD IGNORANCE--Thanks for this post
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nacoran
9737 posts
Feb 06, 2018
1:32 PM
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I have huge holes in my handyman skill set, but I did have a soldering gun and some of those old Radio Shack wiring kit and similar projects when I was a kid...
Anyway, one day we were over at a friend's house and he had a loose wire on one of his pedals. Our bass player is much more handy and he asked if our friend had a soldering iron. Our friend (who lives at his parents house) wasn't sure what might be around. He thought he'd seen one maybe over on the workbench though.
Five minutes later he came back with a caulking gun. :)
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Nate
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