Icemaster
23 posts
Mar 26, 2011
7:50 PM
|
A few days ago, I received my new GM in Bb. It played alright OOTB but tonite I decided it could use some light gapping. So all the reeds came out fine except for my 6 blow. At first I thought I was just hearing things but it sounded like a beating noise like an out of tune reed while playing an octave. But I checked the tuning of the 6 blow and it was fine. So while I had it apart I noticed that after I do a 6 blow, I see a lot of condensation around the 6 draw reed. Then when I put my finger over the 6 draw reed and play 6 blow it sounds fine. So my question is, why is 6 draw responding when all I want is 6 draw natural and how do I fix this? Could it have been from the gapping I did? Appreciate any advice.
----------
"A harmonica is not just a souped up kazoo" -Mo Rocca
|
nacoran
3929 posts
Mar 27, 2011
1:43 PM
|
I haven't heard of that before, but thinking it through, maybe the rivet on the 6 draw is loose, making the reed more prone to random vibration, or the reed might be shot. If the blow and draw are tuned to close it might be sympathetic vibrations. My suggestions would be check the rivet, and maybe gap the draw a little lower, but I'm just guessing.
----------
Nate
Facebook
Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
|
Icemaster
24 posts
Mar 28, 2011
7:26 AM
|
Thanks nacoran. I'll try that and maybe wax the rivet while I'm at it. It's a brand new harp so I hope its not the reed.
----------
"A harmonica is not just a souped up kazoo" -Mo Rocca
|
ElkRiverHarmonicas
601 posts
Mar 28, 2011
1:28 PM
|
I think the reed is going into overblow, it is the only scenario that makes sense, given what you've said. and it would be from your gapping. Condensation can make a tight-gapped reed stick in the slot. When a draw reed goes into the slot, it will overblow almost effortlessly. When you overblow a six draw on a Bb, you get a Ab note. The note next to it is an A. When you have some air spill over into the next hole, you get the notes Bb and A. The wavelengths are close enough together that you get that tremolo effect you described. It's like when you take a chromatic and push the button in halfway. Open that gap up a bit and see if it still happens.
www.elkriverharmonicas.com
----------
"There are only two things money can't buy - true love and homegrown tomatoes." - Lewis Grizzard
Last Edited by on Mar 28, 2011 1:29 PM
|
