arzajac
218 posts
Jun 08, 2010
4:26 AM
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I just bought a Korg CA-1 chromatic tuner and am trying to learn how to use it properly.
In checking the tunings of my harps, it seems that the blow reeds of a Golden Melody are tuned to a calibration of 443 MHz and the draw reeds are calibrated to 442. Is it just me or has anyone else experienced this?
Like I said, I am trying to learn how to use this thing and so I'm not sure if I am doing this right, but calibrating it like this seems to be giving me the results I expect.
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Diggsblues
340 posts
Jun 08, 2010
5:09 AM
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Add vibrato and you'll be close to 440 LOL
I think if they were tuned to 440 most people
would play flat most of the time.
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arzajac
219 posts
Jun 08, 2010
5:28 AM
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Yes, but most sources I have found say to calibrate the tuner to 442. I just don't get any reading at zero for the blow reeds unless I set it to 443. The draw reeds seem to be reading zero at 442...
I'm not sure if the problem is twelve inches away from the tuner...
Last Edited by on Jun 08, 2010 5:29 AM
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HarpNinja
496 posts
Jun 08, 2010
8:30 AM
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I have an E GM like that. I can't tell if it came like that or it flattened on the draw notes from playing it. I don't use it much though...
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barbequebob
897 posts
Jun 08, 2010
10:17 AM
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There is also the possibility that your draw breath is too hard, which is very common, and the harder the breath, the more the pitch drops, which is why I always recommend when tuning, use the VERY SOFTEST amount of breath force you can physically manage.
Few harp companies tune them to real A440 because the harder the breath force, the more the pitch drops, and with some players, they could drop the pitch down (if tuned to real A440) to as low as A437, which is gonna be REALLY flat, being damned close to ABOUT 40-60 cents flat, and so they tune them anywhere between A442-A445 so it never falls below A440 no matter how hard you play them, and they KNOW that a very large number of players often play a lot harder than they realize.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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hvyj
395 posts
Jun 08, 2010
2:34 PM
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As i understand it, GMs are tuned to 443. I think most of us tend to flatten the draw notes a little through breath pressure when we play whether we mean to or not. Try to consciously and deliberately lighten the breath pressure on the draw notes and see what the tuner does.
Personally, I like my harps tuned to 442. I seem to be able to stay pretty well in tune playing a 442 instrument. IMHO, a pretty good test of intonation is how in tune one sounds playing with horns. Btw, I only play ET harps. GMs are ET.
Last Edited by on Jun 08, 2010 2:39 PM
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