Just a quick note to say that I've discovered that it's possible to fit Hohner reeds to Seydels, but that there are a few tricks involved.
My problem:
I had a great Bb Soloist Pro that I blew the 4 and 5 draw reeds in a while back. I wanted to fix it, but all my "bone yard" harps are Hohners. Even though they are about the same width, Hohner reeds are about 1mm longer than Seydel reeds, so I never thought that I could use them.
Solution:
Well, finally it occurred to me that I might be able to trim the length of the Hohner reeds to make them fit the Seydel slots. I extracted the 4 and 5 draw reeds from a defunct Ab marine band as the donor reeds. My thought was to use reeds that were lower in pitch, so that when I trimmed them, they would be closer to the pitch of the reeds I was replacing.
To find the amount I needed to trim, I temporarily held the donor reeds in place (placing the rivet of the donor reeds in the rivet hole of the recipient reeslot to make sure they were exactly aligned), and poked a sharpie (marker) up through the bottom of the reedslot and inked the reed up to the end of the slot. This way, the reed was covered in black ink right up to the point where you want to trim it. I used a pair of wire cutters to snip the reed tip off at this line.
I then affixed the reed (just using a nail-set and a small hobby hammer and anvil to affix it in the hole with it's own rivet). Centered it with the reed wrench, and tested the tuning: Both reeds were about a whole tone flat. So with a bit of filing at the tips, I brought them back into tune (the Seydel compromise tuning system. Thanks to BBQ Bob's temperament guide!).
Result:
After a bit of gapping and re-profiling of the entire harp (the banging of the hammer and anvil disrupted the setup of most of the other reeds), I've got my great-sounding Bb Soloist pro back in action. The donor reeds sound the same as all the others!
Anyway, I thought a few of you might be interested to know that you could do that...
I've done it. Same here, poverty being the mother of experimentation. The low Hohner reeds are 2.2mm just like the Seydels. The difference starts in the middle of the harp, where the Hohner reeds get narrower. The Seydels are 2.2mm for all 10 holes. The exception is the Seydel Solist, but it wont work either from the middle up because its reeds are narrower than Hohners. ----------
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Last Edited by on Feb 18, 2011 4:26 PM
Just so's y'all can hear how the Hohner reeds sound like in this harp, here's a vid. Have listen to when I play the 4 and 5 draw. Those are the Hohner reeds...
Oh yeah, I forgot to say that I tuned this to Natural Minor. I used the Blu Tak method for the first time, and I have to say, it was super easy and works really really well. I also love that it is reversible so I can change this harp back to standard richter when ever I want to! ---------- == I S A A C ==
