Ask Harp Tech Expert Kinya Pollard

Hi Kinya;

 When I become accomplished enough to play out, I aspire to play in an acoustic guitar/harp duo, ala Sonny & Brownie, possibly using a Shure SM-58 wiith a Peavey KB-2 keyboard amp that has a built in XLR jack, when a little more volume is needed. I have no desire to play traditional amplified harp in a typical band setting. Would I still calibrate my tuner to 442 hz?  I'm really just curious.

I've looked around a bit and haven't been able to find any thunderbird tunings. I got a new one the other day and It was horribly out of tune. -26 to +23  and everything in between. It must have been the first harp tuned on Monday morning following Octoberfest. It sure does take a lot of strokes to move that 1 blow. That was the -26. I put this one to 19 JI and now it is at least in tune with itself. How are they supposed to be tuned 

thanks......Mike

I had a blast yesterday. I started out tuning an old 50s MB that was still in good shape and 7 limit just.  I was tuning to get rid of the beats and noticed my tuning app was still open and was picking up the ghost tones. That was kind of cool in itself but then I noticed as I tuned the regular notes the cents on the ghost note would change. This A harp A5 + C#6 = A3 -5 cents and C#6 + E6 = A3 +29 cents..... It sounds terrible but not as bad as the draw side. I also noticed that harp ninja will pick them up too. If you don't see it click on the keyboard and they will show up there. continue reading...

Kinya, I read where you said one needs feeler gauges that begin at .001", but the Seydel gauges start at .002". Does the .001 come in to play often?

Hi Kinya; continue reading...

I am trying to get my head wraped around some things. 

Tunings: Richter, Paddy, Music maker, ect. They change the actual notes available on the harp.

Temprements: Richter, Original Blues, Alt-1&2, Original MB, Modern MB, 12 tet, ect are recipes noting the cent deviation from equal.

The part tha's confusing is I see these terms interchanged quite a bit. I want to get it straight in my mind so that if I ask you a question we are both talking about the same thing. continue reading...

Kinya I'm about a 3-year player and I'm ready to tackle the upper register of the diatonic harmonica. I typically Gap the lower holes up to about hole 6 at 9 microns. This morning I took a six draw on a d harmonica to 8 microns from 9 microns and found a big Improvement in the ease with which I could bend that 6 draw.

  continue reading...

Hello Kinya; continue reading...

 I have a chromatic that has a severe bend in 1 of the wind savers..I can not fix it.. Is the wind saver replaceable? or is the fix a new reed plate?

thank you..k

Hi

Dear Kinya  I need a small light box sitting on my desk for reed adjustment.

Can you kindly send me a link to a practical affordable light box in Amazon?  :)

Thanks a bunch