It would seem that varied reed temperatures would produce errors. Also, a "Q" tip style is available that cleans electronic circuits, and is has a spongy foamy tip material (which also cleans). Has a solution in it. This would eliminate stringy residue problems.
This reply is probably coming way too late, but it might be useful to somebody else. 1. It's not really flat. You have to consider the angle you're looking at the tuner from. If you were looking at it from right in front of it, I think it'd read pretty dead on 0. The camera was slightly to the side so the needle shifted. 2. If it does end up flat, then the procedure is the same but you take material off the other end of the reed instead. That sharpens the note.
when i tune the reed sometimes it seems like i can take all of the brass colored stuff off to where the metal is shiny and the reed still doesn't go to where i want it, it seems like when you just take a little bit off the reed gets sharper or flatter alot quicker, what am i doing wrong?
+killer mike Thank you for your comment. To ask questions to Kinya Pollard you'll need to be a students of BluesHarmonica.com. You can correspond with him here www.bluesharmonica.com/forums/ask_harp_tech_expert_kinya_pollard
Sounds like you’re tuning without taking the plates off of the comb, with a rotary tool. This makes it harder to support the reed when removing material, especially when trying to raise a blow reed. Remove the plates and always support the reed before removing material.
