Tuning Hohner CX-12
Mon, 08/04/2025 - 05:54
Hi,
Anyone got any tips about how to do the above? There's a long way between tuning a reed and getting the shell back on to play the note.
Thanks,
Graham
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It's always best to test tuning with the harp fully assembled, as the airflow via the slide and mouthpiece (and in the case of the CX-12, the shell) will always have an effect on tuning.
That makes tuning draw reeds not such a big deal, as they're on the outside of the reed block. Tune, plink to let the reed settle, then pop the harp back together and test.
The blow reeds are a bigger challenge. Unscrewing and reassmbling all those screws that hold the reedblock together is a tedious job.
What if you could tune the blow reeds with the reedblock assembled?
Richard Sleigh makes a tool he calls a draw scraper. Not because it's for draw reeds, but because you can draw (pull) it towards you to scrape metal from the surface of a reed inside the harmonica. It has a blade that's shaped like a hook and can scrape small smouns of metal from a blow reed. Lowering pitch by scraping the base of the blow reed is easiest with this tool. To raise pitch by sraping at the tip is harder because you have to reach further inside (while also not disturbing the inside valve on the draw reed), but because you need to supprt the blow reed from the outside so it doesn't just flex into the slot. Check Richard's site for more advice on this procedure.