2nd hole Draw buzz on A Harmonica
Hi Winslow
I'm a returning player after a 10+ year lapse and was previously a pucker player.
I have now been playing for 6 weeks (about 1 to 1 1/2hrs a day) Working my way through the LOA 1
I have noticed that my 2 hole draw has progressively got worse with a buzz on the 2nd hole draw. This started as an occasional buzz but is now sounding every time I draw on the 2. it buzzes even when playing gently. The harmonica in question is a Honer Marine Band Deluxe and has had about 40 hours of total playing time. I a, a relative beginner due to starting again with tongue blocking, but I do think I have been playing at a low level volume. I have been trying to tongue block bend but probably only a few hours at best on this harp.
I know that you cant see the harp to easily advise, but do you think this could this be a reed offset issue? I don't want to take the harp to bits and try and adjust it to make something else go wrong :-/
Many Thanks
Richard
Cheers Winslow
ahhhh yes I had the idea that offset was the side to side position of the reed instead of the height of the reed.
Would it be called 'being offline' etc.
thanks for the advice on how to adjust and fix the problem.
I'll report back once I have had a look/go at sorting the issue.
Ta
Richard
Today I tried playing the harp again before doing any tinkering.
It seemed to be all A-OK and was playing well at first and then I noticed the odd buzz. I thought I'd play it a while hoping that it may be some debris that might free itself but alas after a while it stopped sounding. I just drew air through the hole.
So I dismantled the harp and couldn't see anything to my 'newbie' eyes that looked out of place. It looked as though the reed seemed to be centred and no higher than the 1 draw off the reed plate.
So I cleaned the plates 'with YouTube guidance from Steve Baker' and plinked the reeds and it sounded good. Put it back together and it is playing well again.
So I'll have another play with it tomorrow and see if it has indeed sorted it out or if it does the same thing again.
Any ideas on the above process?
Many Thanks again
Richard
Today I tried playing the harp again before doing any tinkering.
It seemed to be all A-OK and was playing well at first and then I noticed the odd buzz. I thought I'd play it a while hoping that it may be some debris that might free itself but alas after a while it stopped sounding. I just drew air through the hole.
So I dismantled the harp and couldn't see anything to my 'newbie' eyes that looked out of place. It looked as though the reed seemed to be centred and no higher than the 1 draw off the reed plate.
So I cleaned the plates 'with YouTube guidance from Steve Baker' and plinked the reeds and it sounded good. Put it back together and it is playing well again.
So I'll have another play with it tomorrow and see if it has indeed sorted it out or if it does the same thing again.
Any ideas on the above process?
Many Thanks again
Richard
Sorry for the double post
OK, maybe it was just some hard-to-see debris that the cleaning got rid of.
The side to side alignment of the reed in the slot is just called alignment. If it's off, the reed will grate against the side, or sound a bit dead at the very least. Running a thin feeler, or holding the reedplate up to a light, can help identify this. Some toolkits incude a reed wrench that you apply to the base of the reed to nudge it slightly and change the alignment. Absent that, you can insert something thn and stiff betweeen the edge of the reed and the slot and nudge it a TINY bit in the direction it neeeds to go.
I played it today and it seemed to be playing well 'touch wood' so maybe it WW some debris stuck in the reed?
Hey-ho see if it continues ;-)
Ta
Richard
Reed offsets - how high the reed rises away from the reedplate- don't cause buzzes unless they're so high that vibration makes the reed hit the coverplate. I doubt that you could raise a reed that high without making it too breathy to play. Then again . . .
Buzzing could be caused by an obstruction between the reed and the edge of its slot - the channel cut in the redplate to let the reed swing freely.
I'd recommend that you
1) remove the covers from the harmonica using a screwdriver.
2) Examine Draw 2 - the second-larges reed mounted on the reedplate that has the reeds on the outside. Look for:
-- An obviously huge gap between the tip of the reed and the surface of the reedplate. If the reed really is set amazingly high, hitting the covers could be the problem. In that case, use a toothpick to gently flex the reed downward so that it still has some gap at the tip, about as much as the thichness of the tip of the reed.
-- Visible debris between the reed and the slot. Any debris should be slid toward the free end of the reed, then removed.
-- Burrs on the reed or slot edge that can be felt by running a thin blade edge along the reed or by pressing the reed gently into the slot to see if it grates or stops where metal is sticking out. Reed burrs can be smoothed by gently running a razorblade along the edge of the reed. Slot burrs require a thin piece of metal, similar to the thinnest avaiable tongue from a feeler gauge set, or the little steel strips that are embedded in anti-theft tags.