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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
BGT - Fixing old 6-draw bends; New reed plate 2-bl
BGT - Fixing old 6-draw bends; New reed plate 2-bl
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Billfish89
11 posts
May 02, 2014
9:50 AM
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My current SP20, key of C, 6draw & 4 draws are not bending nearly as well as they should.
My newer Eb and Bb SP20s work fine on these bends, so it's not me, and I suspect I wore out the C's reeds.
from YouTube Harp videos, tried gapping the draw and ungapping the opposite blow reeds, but not the fix.
I bought new reed plates from Hohner, and, the 4d and 6d bends work better.
BUT, the NEW 2blow is bad!! - sounds bubbly/buzzy, like a busted kazoo. and if played enough, gets stuck.
Sent it back to Hohner under warranty; they "repaired" and sent the same plates back - I get same problems with the 2 blow. An explanation would have been helpful.
This happens With the cover plates off, but stops when manually blocking the 2d reed.
After that, sounds fine with the cover plates off, but with the cover plates on, the buzzing comes back.
Seems to get worse the more I play the 2draw.
Youtube points me to look for burrs, and check for excessive gaps on the opposite (2d) reed.
I gently un-gapped and re-gapped the 2b and 2d reeds into their slots to check for burrs and alignment.
Put the cover plates on, it 2-blow works for a while, but the buzzing kazoo ultimately comes back.
Any suggestions to fix this, or is it just a defective new reed plate set?
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MP
3193 posts
May 02, 2014
10:01 AM
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Maybe the two is out of alignment. that would make a broken kazoo sound w/ the reed hitting side of slot. the reed has to be pressed inward to check alignment properly.
hold blow plate to light. press reed very gently into slot. see if reed is too close to either side of slot.( even if it doesn't hit the side, if it is close it will. if so,
adjust as necessary with shim or wrench.
OR, there is a tuning mark ruining the tone. OR there IS a burr you cannot see w/ out a magnifying glass.
trouble spots tend to be at the base of the reed or the very tip end.
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Affordable Reed Replacement
Marks Harmonica Tune-up
Click user name MP for contact info
Last Edited by MP on May 02, 2014 10:35 AM
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Frank
4201 posts
May 02, 2014
6:35 PM
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do you have a tool for aligning reeds ( moving a reed left or right)? :)
Last Edited by Frank on May 02, 2014 6:36 PM
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Billfish89
12 posts
May 03, 2014
9:07 AM
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MP, Thanks for the tips!
I checked the alignment over-the lighted screen of my smartphone, like someone (arzjac?) suggested in another post. It looks right on.
tiny burs near the base of the reed? I used a 0.002 inch steel feeler gauge to gently slide around there to clear anything out. It played nicely after the feeler gauge work, but the buzzing kazoo came back next morning!!
Frank, I don't have a reed wrench, I would gently push to the side with steel feeler gauge.
I have pretty much an ad hoc toolset. Thin paper receipts to gap with. I use a skinny wooden skewer stick point to push reed (de-gap) into slot.
Maybe MP, the tip of the reed might be a little close? I'll have to look closer. Then what do you do? Do I need jewelers files?
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MP
3194 posts
May 03, 2014
10:28 AM
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if possible use natural light because lamps of any time distort size of tolerances
use larger shim at base of reed gently to edge tip of reed away from plate. or, if very careful twist shim and scrape side of slot near tip end to free it up. you won't remove enough brass to affect your harp.
check draw reed for alignment too. Long shot but sometimes it acts sympathetic and will buzz though not being played. also check reeds adjacent for alignment.
Look for deep diagonal tuning gouge at base of reed. long shot but that may be prob.
----------
Affordable Reed Replacement
Marks Harmonica Tune-up
Click user name MP for contact info
Last Edited by MP on May 03, 2014 10:30 AM
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SuperBee
1943 posts
May 03, 2014
4:22 PM
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I've not had the problem with sp20, but on 1 of my crossover harps I found that too much torque on the cover plates was causing a twist in the reed plates resulting in just the problem you describe. Covers off, no problem. Covers on, buzz in chamber 2. Loosen off the cover, buzz went away.
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Billfish89
13 posts
May 03, 2014
5:24 PM
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MP- I checked the alignments and it looked like the 2b was very slightly moving to one side at the reed tip. I used a .003" feeler gage to tweak it over. I looked at the 2d and it is kind of off to one side. Since I suspected something there ,I tweaked it over too.
Now it's back to square one, where it buzzes even with the cover plates off. Oops,Not sure what tweak messed that up!
I put back in my old reed plates that work( w no 6d bend) so I can play it. The new plates are going into a Frankenharp with a Blues Band comb for learning purposes...
Superbee, When first tweaked it with a feeler gage it noticed a loose fit (hand held in place) was good, and a lite torque on the cover plate screws was better than normal torque, but, The buzzing came back after sitting a while. Maybe the plates settled or contracted (cooled down?) into place when left alone. If I can get it to the point of no buzz w cover plates off, I can try less torque in different screws around the plates. BTW these stainless cover plate screws from RockinRons are a breeze to use when doing all this reassembly!
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