PLEASE SUBSCRIBE & HIT THE NOTIFICATIONS ICON A quick demo of two essential skills all players should have, to get your harps working as you like them.
Very informative, easy to understand. Was able to make my 3 draw more responsive in about 15 minutes as I was being careful taking baby steps to achieve my goal. Used a sturdy wood tooth pick. Saved to my personal playlist, Thank you.
You just saved a Charlie Musselwhite from the bin. I thought it was toast, but a half-hour after watching this I have it just the way I thought it would be when I bought it. Thank you!
Thank you so much for the ideas I picked from this video. An amateur harmonica player, I have neither of the tools you are using but was able to "fix" my harmonica, and now I have at least some sound. It is almost perfect! Daniel, Uganda
I’m one of those players who didn’t have a clue but now I do thanks to you, hahaha that just came out I wasn’t trying to be humorous and thank you again.
thanks so much for sharing. Your explanation and wonderful demonstration makes it very clear and seemingly not at all difficult to make reed adjustments and tuning. Again thanks and happy days
This worked perfectly for my cheap Folk Master harmonica. Had a flat G note 7 blow. Used a paper clip to expose the reed and slid a thin knife under it to hold it in place while I filed it with an emery board. I'll have to get some better tools but thanks again !
Finally someone explaining relationship between draw and blow reeds. Was becoming nuts trying to fix my 3 draw on a G Manji. Only 3 draw giving me problems on a normal blues set G to F. O_O Thank you Brendan!
That is a fantastic explanation of how to gap and tune reeds . I sat watching in awe of your skills . You handle the harp like a surgeon. Thank you for showing we mere mortals how to go about this adjustment on our harmonicas . Best wishes Brian.
You know, Brendan... You really are "da champ" - thank you (!) for this ULTRA-clear, concise and über-helpful video. I'm sitting here adjusting my bass harmonica, and you explained everything I needed to know:) I wish you and your loved ones all the best 🌸
Thanks so much. Very easy to follow, I had a couple of harps lying round for years I could never get to sound right until now. I still sound terrible, but now Im in tune! Wahay!!!
Witchcraft! I've only been playing for fifty years. You're never to old to learn things. Ty. Great stuff. Used to set gaps when I was playing blues harps. Had to. Then they became a fine musical instrument at over 50 bucks a pop. So I became afraid. Going through my whole kit, ty
Thank you so much for making this video! I have 4 hohner harmonicas that the 2 draw is dead sounding that was not like that when I bought them. Thanks again.
Thanks for a basic primer in tuning the harp. I've attempted many fixes 0% success rate knowing next to nothing. Perhaps I'll find a little more success now. Certain reeds on same key harps always mess up over and over through the years mostly mid range draw notes in the 4-5-6 range on higher pitch harps( D) in particular. Thanks again.
As an alternative to grinding the base of a reed to lower the pitch, which weakens it and risks it eventually breaking, I apply a tiny drop of liquid paper from a liquid paper pen near the tip of the reed. It sticks very well but is easy to scrape off again while fine tuning. Also easy to remove completely if you are just experimenting with different tunings.
Sounds like quite a good alternative to Blutack, which is what I've used since the 1980s. How far can you lower the pitch of a reed with this stuff? Blutack will drop it about 2 semitones max, and has the advantage of being capable of removal and replacement.
@@BrendanPowerMusic I have only used it for fine tuning so I wouldn't know how far you could go. I have done about 20 cents max. It is easy to build it up to a decent blob though so I would think a semitone or two would be possible. My concern with blutack would be the risk of it coming loose and being inhaled. The liquid paper sticks really well so there is no risk of that. It sets slow enough to be able to easily scrape a bit off again during the tuning process. (PS. It is also great for fixing chips on whitegoods like fridges and washing machines.)
Thanks for this Brendan. I'm nearly 6 months into learning and practicing. I saw this video a few months ago and have since been able to gap my reeds as needed. I've a few old harps I'll use to practice tuning. I love being able to look after my own kit. Thanks man 👊
Thanks Brendad, wish I'd seen this before I wrecked my lee oscar. Wasn't getting clear notes and bending was a chore because of a lack of air pressure.
Great video Brendan, well covered and very accessible. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. Haven't thought about using an engraving tool before! Lee
This was great and inspiring to watch. Thank you. You are the first that I've seen to use a battery powered engraver instead of a file. You say in the video that the engraver gives you a lot more control and I was wondering how so?
And so I am listening and learning and listening and learning and then the guy plays and I am like...damn dude can hit a lick ! Will give this all a shot on a drawer full of out of tune harps. Thanks.
This is an excellent demonstration, clear and concise. I use a similar battery engraver made by "General Tool". I would like to add that folks should pay attention to the direction that the engraver bit spins. Avoid spinning in the direction of the reed tip because it can catch on the tip end and cause damage. At one point I was told to plink a reed 3 or 4 times prior to testing the pitch. I wonder if I'm wasting my time with that step?
My universe just had a ... harmonic convergence. Seriously, tho, I've b'd and moaned for years that I have never bought a harmonica (Golden Melody, Special 20, Easttop and other brands as well) that I was satisfied with in terms of intonation. I did try tuning a couple about a year ago, but now I know that I really do need an electric engraver to do a good job! I need to go thru my entire collection now and gap and tune them before I start dropping loads of money. On a different note (seriously -- no pun intended) after seeing a different video of yours I ordered a Lucky 13. I just read your guarantee info. I'm looking forward to getting the harp, and if I like it I will likely order others. Thanks for the great info, and for such a clear presentation. - Gil, San Francisco
absolutely brilliant ... thanks so, so much. I've been playing harmonica for 30 odd years ,,, always had trouble with them going out of tune or tuned differently to each other - i wish id known this all these things years ago. so clearly put .. you took all the mystery out looking after the harmonica. For all these years I didn't even dare take the covers off to look inside. Better late than never. Its a harmonica life saver. You are the angel of harmonicas come down to help us all. I cant thank you enough Brendan. God bless ... stay safe. x Tony.
I only have one harmonica, so I'm afrad that I might have already messed it up. I will be more careful in the future, if I buy another one. Thanks for your tips.
great video, thank you! I bought a hohner 270 deluxe recently. it's not air tight at all. The gaps are so big which makes it hard to play. I adjust the gap according to your demonstration and now it's really easy to play.
Another video! Great! I could watch you talk about harps for hours, Brendan. I'd love to see a harmonica themed podcast with you and other players. In fact, I'm curious: what's your favourite stock harp? Mine is the Seydel 1847 Classic, a virtually perfect harp.
Regapped one of my Lee Oskars…. It now sounds if I stand it on a table, in a breeze! It’s incredibly responsive - but I might have overcooked it a touch…..
Hi Brendan, thanks for this very informative video. I like Honer Masterclass harmonica’s (meisterclasse). They seam louder and clearer than my couple of special 20’s. I play mostly in first position. Playing a guitar as well. Apart from being very expensive. What are your thoughts on this line from Honer? In my opinion, you are the most talented and innovative player in the world. You make me proud to be a kiwi. Cheers, Brent 😋
I only touch up tuning if I hear a reed has drifted. That rarely happens to me, because I don't over-bend notes. But if it does happen, normally it goes flat. You can tune it back up, but if it happens again it's a sign the reed has a crack and needs replacing. But if a reed is sound, if you use weights at the tip to lower the pitch instead of filing/grinding the reed base, you can detune and retune a reed an indefinite number of times.
Have been meaning to learn this for years - this is the first video (I've seen) to explain it so clearly and crisply. Question: At what point do you replace a reed, how hard is it and are you planning a little video on that too given that some are soldered and others bolted?
You only need to replace a reed when it goes terminally flat. I have done a couple of RU-vid videos on replacing welded reeds, they should show up in a search.
Great video. I just bought my first Harmonica. A Hohner Pro Harp. I'm going to be looking under the hood. What would i use to do the fine tuning if i do not have the engraving tool?? Hope to hear your advice. Thanks
So, it looks like you always go for Equal Temperament and "stretching" the octaves. Hohner says that they use a "compromise" tuning for their Marine Band that's a bit like Just Intonation, but compromised to acknowled that most people play the Marine Band in cross harp. It's tweaked so that the chords will be a bit more sonorous in the cross harp key at the expense of the primary key. They explicitly state that their Golden Melody is tuned using Equal Temperament so that it will play nice as a solo instrument with modern concert pitch equal temperament instruments. I would suspect that you might tune your D session harps using JI, but I think that most ITM instruments are moving away from JI to ET so that they can play with other ET instruments like guitar, banjo, mandolin, bousiki, etc. I know historically bagpipers have had issues, and still do, playing with other instruments because of the way they are traditionally tuned - their A is at about 470Hz and they use JI. I'm pretty sure that most uilleann pipes are also tuned using JI. Have you ever had to make compensations or use different harmonicas when playing with ITM musicians who's instruments were tuned or "intonated" more traditionally?
Does this harmonica video help echo harps too? I need to get my 57/120 Hohner harmonica along with my tremolo sextets back in good working order. Please let me know, thank you.
Thanks for a helpful and informative tutorial. am I right then to remember that to sharpen a reed, i file the tip . and to flatten it i file the base ?.........Many thanks. Lolwit
Essentially, yes - but be careful how you file the base of the reed, it's best to grind or scratch it in the middle, otherwise it can create weak points.
Thank you so much. I was wondering : if you grind the reed too much, is there any way to catch that up or do you have to change the whole set of reeds ? Is it the same technique to change the 3rd hole in order to turn a standard Richter into a Paddy Richter ? Always best to inquire to its creator...
Yes, you can easily reverse the process of you remove too much material at the reed tip: either grind a little at the reed base, or add weight at the end of the reed. Could be solder or Blu Tack.
@@fasgamboa Yes: if you don't have the skills to make it yourself, there are harmonica techs who will do it for you. Also the manufacturer Seydel will make a harp in any tuning you can think of. Just input the notes via their Configurator.
Fabulous video Thanks very helpful. Only thing I couldn’t find the G string tuning up in the App Store. You’re app looks fantastic. Can you tell me the exact name of that tuning app? Many thanks
Next question :-) I saw you were tuning the harp about 10 cents sharp. Do you recommend to do so on every note? I just checked my Hohner Big River Harp, I have a varition between sometimes 5 cents flat (that needs to be corrected, I understand) and up to 20 cents sharp. So I assume this needs to be corrected. My Marine Band Crossover is better but still from exactly in tune to 20 cents sharp. I have ordered the Hohner Service Kit from Thomann, which contains most of the tools you mention, but a file instead of an engraver, so I hope to be able to start soon. I expect that to arrive tomorrow or the day after.
Estou procurando um bom afinador para harmónica cromática. Tenho um KORG TM-60, mas oscila um pouco ao soprar as notas. Qual afinador me recomendaria para afinar a gaita Suzuki scx 64? Muito Obrigado desde o Brasil.
I just saw another video from Seydel, they showed how to tune up and down a reed by taking off material from the bottom (down) and top (up) of the reed. You worked with a brass reed, whereas the Seydels have steel reed. Do you do the same for tuning up and down?
Hey Brendan, Hope you don't mind me asking for your help. I'm struggling with trying hold my 3 draw half step bend . It keeps going on to a full step. It only happens on one harp, and I've been told that it's the reed that needs gaping. Would i need to increase or decrease the gap on this draw read ? I've always been afraid to touch the reeds, But after doing this one ,i then might try and "recondition" an old Hohner i have. Thanks any way for sharing your knowledge with us all. Lolwit
I opened my Honer Pro Harp MS to check why 7D needed much more air than the adiacent holes but as I took away completely only one screw and just loosened the other, when I finished the check, moving the bottom cover that was rotating around the loosend screw it went a little into the 1D reed. Now when I push it down I can feel it is not totally free to go through its hole and it seems it touches in some point: is there any hope I can recover this clumsily made stupid mistake? Thanks.
@@BrendanPowerMusic thanks Brendan. I noticed you said about 90% of the time harmonicas can be restored using these maintenance techniques. The other 10% of the time when you can't fix them do you know just by looking at the harp that it can't be fixed or do you find out though trial and error? Also how many times can you repair the reeds before they die for good?
@@thBrilliantFool As long as the reed is sound at the base you can fine tune it over and over again. If it goes terminally flat, then it has a crack and should be replaced. Being able to replace reeds means you can keep a harp going indefinitely. That takes more time and training, which most don't want to be bothered with. But every harp player should know reed gapping and fine tuning, I believe. These basic skills will cover the majority of small issues that crop up regularly.
Thanks Brendan. Could you please tell me if and how I can redirect a reed that has come slightly out of line with the slot (it does'nt go down into the reed slot). I managed to repair this with a tiny ste of pliers, but it was a matter of microns to turn the reed just in line!
Good question! My first advice is to look at the reed with high magnification. If you have a microscope, use it to show you where the reed is jamming in the slot. It will help a lot. I use a binocular microscope of a type coin collectors use. But there are also low cost digital microscopes where you see the image on a screen. Preferably looking through the microscope as you work, the best tool to re-centre the reed is Reed Wrench. It's a mini spanner that fits around the base of the reed. You can buy them in tool kits, or make your own by filing a slot in some thin steel. Using ty wrench, twist the reed in the appropriate direction till the breed is central in the slot, and it's job done. If you have none of those tools, a quick and dirty method is to slip a thin shim (feeler gauge is best) down the side the reed is touching and lever it the other way. However it's easy to go too far, and then you need to repeat back the other way. It's not ideal though after a while you can get lucky... But using magnification and the Reed Wrench is guaranteed to work.
@@BrendanPowerMusic Thanks again; I ordered a reed wrench from Hohner (hope it will fit other brands too (Suzuki,Seydel and more...). I used a binocular microscope; works well.
Great video, thanks for sharing, I've been doing the tuning with the short blade of a Victorinox pocket knife but I'll follow your advise on the engraver. Would you please remind me the name of the tuner app?
One important factor is reducing the amount of air that escapes around the reed. Slot Embossing will help a lot, but air will still escape at the base of the reed. Many people bend the base of the reed down into the slot, then curve the reed up. This is effective but time consuming, and it detunes the reed - necessitating retuning. I prefer to build up the sides of the slot with a nail art pen. It achieves the same result but is much quicker, and doesn't detune the reed. I've done another video on it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eQP6tZRXbTU.html
@@BrendanPowerMusic While I was thinking about which other materials could be used to fill in the gaps that are also food-safe, I noticed that the position where the reed is connected could be slightly lowered. E.g., drilling down with a sufficiently wide drill bit could lower the reed far enough to have the same effect. I also do not see any issues to automate this when stamping the reeds (except for maybe the small tolerances). Any idea why this is not done? In general, I am wondering why most harmonicas have such a poor finish. Even with my Golden Melody I had to sand the reed plates in the front. With the Easttop harps it is even worse. I had to sand all corners and even the edges of the cover plates because they were so damn sharp. I cannot believe that customers wouldn't pay a few more bucks extra to get a decently finished harp out of the box.
Excellent tutorial..! What do you mean when you said "the notes have a beat'? When I listened to the 2 notes that you were relating to on your video, I could hear the notes resonating (I think that is the term used); the sound was oscillating like a wave, up and down. Many thanks
Yes, Karl, that oscillation up and down, a few times per second, is the "beat", the two discrete frequencies of sound "beating" against each other, as it is said. Say, if one freq was 440, and the other 446. you would hear a "beat" of about 6 Hertz, 6 cycles per second. The "beat" sounds like vibrato, and has the frequency of beating of the difference in cycles per second of the two frequencies causing the beat. So if there is no difference between this two frequencies, there's no beat at all. This way of matching the two frequencies is called "zero beating". Brendan mentioned the "beat' at that point in the video, and you could hear the beating (the beating... ) clearly, a few Hertz, like "wah-wah-wah". Best, --Joe
Yes, Anthony, that oscillation up and down, a few times per second, is the "beat", the two discrete frequencies of sound "beating" against each other, as it is said. Say, if one freq was 440, and the other 446. you would hear a "beat" of about 6 Hertz, 6 cycles per second. The "beat" sounds like vibrato, and has the frequency of beating of the difference in cycles per second of the two frequencies causing the beat. So if there is no difference between this two frequencies, there's no beat at all. This way of matching the two frequencies is called "zero beating". Brendan mentioned the "beat' at that point in the video, and you could hear the beating (the beating... ) clearly, a few Hertz, like "wah-wah-wah". Best, --Joe
I am a new player and I would love to practice this but I don't want to ruin my harmonica. Is there an inexpensive but playable harmonica that you can recommend on which to practice these techniques?
I put a new key of G reed plate in a Lee Oskar and the lowest (1) blow won't sound clearly at all. The gap looks identical to all the others. tried increasing it but to no avail. What could I be doing wrong?
