SuperBee
2105 posts
Jul 03, 2014
4:51 PM
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I just have been taking a look at this gadget.
Anybody have one? Experiences?
Kinya pollard had been an enthusiastic advocate I notice.
1847, you said yours is ready. You bought it?
It's pricier than most gear I would buy.
Haven't seen much discussion about it here. Maybe that's because the price is high for something which does a job most folks don't do very often. And can do with hand tools.
I expect you'd need to be doing a lot of tuning/saving a lot of paid time...
Which makes it a professional tool or an indulgence...
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jnorem
350 posts
Jul 03, 2014
5:07 PM
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Nowhere on the website is it explained how it works. There isn't even a demonstration.
It's rather impressive to look at, but who has $433 to spend on something from just looking at a photograph?
The idea of being able to tune old reed plates isn't very sound. Reeds give out after awhile.
Still, I find the idea to be really compelling, a device you can put a reed plate in and make it properly in tune.
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Call me J
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yonderwall
75 posts
Jul 03, 2014
5:15 PM
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From the pic it looks to me like you still need to use your tools to manually tune the reeds. This device simply looks to be convenient mechanism to hold the reedplate down and allow you to direct a uniform airstream across one reed at a time. But you still need to do the tuning.
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SuperBee
2106 posts
Jul 03, 2014
5:58 PM
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Kinya pollard has made a series of videos about it...but they're on bluesharmonica.com
So you have to be a paid-up member there to see them. Not that it's a bad thing to do, it's a fantastic site with plenty of value to be had for a moderate fee...if you can stream video without too much buffering.
That's been a problem for me, so I still haven't seen the full series.
Yeah for sure it's not an automatic tuning machine. You still need to manually remove metal. But if it can save all the reassembling and disassembling and condensation it seems to have potential for significant time saving and consistency...
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harpwrench
888 posts
Jul 03, 2014
8:04 PM
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I have one but can make better time and do a better job using spring clamps and a hair dryer. If they come out with a dual setup that let's you use master plates I'll be interested.
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www.spiersharmonicas.com
High performance harmonicas.
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arnenym
293 posts
Jul 04, 2014
10:26 AM
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I have one and i tune a harp on 1/4 of the time i spend on every harp i tuned before i bought it.
I'm no good at spring clamps and hair dryers..
But as you said it's best if you have many plates to do at the same time. And the best result is if you use a reference tone when you tune.
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John Ingham
1 post
Jul 08, 2014
4:02 PM
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Hey folks!
As an introduction I am the person making the Sjoberg tuning table here in the US, MasterHarp USA. I have been working directly with Dick for over a year now firing up USA production and selling the US version since February of this year, 2014. I got into this project because as a player with boxes of used and brused harmonicas laying around I myself had draft versions of a tuner on the board so to speak. Then I found Dick's tuner and realized that this guy had it nailed pretty much. An afternoon of watching the Kinya Pollard videos is all it took for me to realize that the Sjoeberg tuner was an incredably enabling tool and exacly what I needed to whip my harps back into shape... and cut that process time and hassle way, way down. Given the opportunity to set up sales manufactiuring in the US I did so, joy!
Getting to the questioins and points raised here now...
It never ceases to amaze me, the ingenious minds of harmonica tuners, tweakers and players alike. From Dick Sjoeberg to 'harpwrench' with his hair dryer and spring clamps to Harmonica Einstein to Andrew Zajac and the The French Tuner. Crazy cool stuff all of it and all of it useful and valuable to varying degrees in various situations. To get a task done efficiently you need the right tool; how wonderful we who want the best sounding harps possible have so many options.
The BluesHarmonica.com Kinya Pollard videos certainly show good use and potential of the Sjoeberg tuning table. I am very greatful for his contribution to better playing. At some point in the not too distant future I plan to provide video at masterharp.com on precision tuning (think piano, harmonics and chordal/reference reed tuning). And admittedly I have been so absorbed getting the Sjoeberg tuner back into production this last year even linking to Kinyas wonderful videos has not happened, I will get to that soon if the powers that be do desire, earth, wind and fire.
To my mind there are many things a serious player/tuner/ tinkerer needs to be aware of and proficient at to achieve maximum value and performance out of their harmonicas. A few are tuning, reed replacement and reed adjustment (gapping / sizing / 'arcing' and so on. The Sjoeberg tuning table efficiently meets the first of those, tuning, and is just one tool of many in that area. It is indeed a very effective tool that way even for the amature, for the professional tuner, watch out, there are so many things you can do with it and as I said very quickly. It can be used pretty much out of the box to tune or tweak entire reed plates in a very simple and fast manner. It lacks little there and has advantages other tuning methods lack. Examples of a Sjoeberg tuning table efficiencies might be reference reed tuning, capacity to easily reduce or eliminate beats between reeds and that it is a really quick way to execute formulaic tunings, country, minor, melodic, just and so on.
If a person were to ask me which aspect of the tuner I like the most it would be that I no longer do you have to pick up the plate to sound by hand after every reed adjustment. Such a time saver it is that way.
As far as the cost goes it is my belief that this tool has the potential for a very high return on your investment in spite of it's cost. Here is a little math for you using your core harps, F C G D A E over a year: 6 X 50 X 1 tunings per year X 2 years = $600. The tool is built well and will last your harmonica playing career most likely so you are more likely to save much more than that of course in the longer run. Yeah, I know, mileage may vary but seriously harmonicas are expensive, this guy will save you money.
We will post more as time goes by, how to videos, tunings to try and so on but for now just making these guys has got me totally absorbed. I will let you all know when we get to those things. In the mean time for all that have an will in the future buy one, thank you! It is a serious labor of love not a profit making machine believe me so etting some love back makes it all worth it.
Looking forward...
John
Last Edited by John Ingham on Jul 08, 2014 4:23 PM
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Kingley
3629 posts
Jul 08, 2014
10:37 PM
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Whilst I can see the use of this table for people like Joe Spiers, Andrew Zajac and Mark Prados and other harp technicians. I honestly think that for the average player it's just overkill and unnecessary for them. realistically how often and how many harps are you tuning up? I know in my experience it's just the odd one here and there most of the time. Every now and then I may have a splurge and do four or five harps in one day, but not very often. I can't see the point in spending a large chunk of hard earned cash on something you can do with just a chromatic tuner, a couple of files, a bit of paper and a little patience.
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harpwrench
889 posts
Jul 09, 2014
6:01 AM
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Does it have reference plate capability now John? Also, have you come up with a gasket that guarantees an airtight seal on the plate(s)?
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www.spiersharmonicas.com
High performance harmonicas.
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1847
1942 posts
Jul 09, 2014
7:49 AM
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harpwrench...
how important is it to have a master plate
with this tuner?
most of us here would only be using it to tune a few harmonicas,every now and then.
i have a peterson 520 strobe
it has reference pitches built in
i have a korg and a muztek tuner that has them as well
you can also go on you tube to find them also.
is there an advantage to having a master plate?
two years ago i put my name on a list for one of these
they were expected to sell for #250.00
now there are closer to $500.00, so it may be out of my league.
i can tune my harps with out taking them apart
thanks to the einstien tuning table.
the harps i get from the factory are seydel
they do an outstanding job tuning. absolutely stunning job!
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harpwrench
890 posts
Jul 09, 2014
10:45 AM
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Pitch is influenced by the reeds sharing a cell in an assembled harp, and the volume of the box/tuning table has it's effect too. Using master/reference plates is the only way around it that I've had success with (with Harrison) and is how the factory does it too. I'm not being critical, it's just the reality of lots of experience. I'd be first in line for something that works right. I'm very particular and tuning takes a lot of time. It's not faster if I have to retune it anyway when I put the harp together. The gasket seal is also critical. That being said the version of the table I have here is early so I don't know what improvements have been worked out, that's why I'm asking.
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www.spiersharmonicas.com
High performance harmonicas.
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John Ingham
4 posts
Oct 28, 2016
12:08 PM
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For the intrepid among you all and to 'dot the i' here, we are working to perfect a master / clone table now:
We will have a few of these available soon and at a low enough price to make it worth my while.
www.masterharp.com
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