tuning from natural minor to major
Howdy!
I got a marine band A natural minor harp as a gift. I'm thinking of trying to retune it to A major by tuning up the minor 3rd and 7th. Do you think this is doable? Also, did the "Marine band 101" series ever get created? I can't seem to find it. Thanks
Hi Vuddah2, here's how you convert your Am Marine Band diatonic harmonica to an A Richter tuned instrument.
Structurally, this is an easy operation. All the above circled notes is what you have on your Natural Am. The mission is to raise each of those notes ½ step (aka one semitone)
I happened to have a Lee Oskar Natural Am harmonica on the shelf so decided to use it for my demonstration here, but the process is identical with your Hohner Marine Band
Remove cover plates and the reed plate fasteners
Separate the blow and draw reed plates from the comb. Let’s start with the BLOW reed plate
Tip: To prevent accidental tuning on the wrong reed, identify ahead of time the three reeds; #2,#5 and #8
Tip: it’s always a good idea to double check the current tuning of the reeds. Here, I’m verifying the tuning is indeed, a F
Look at this closeup view of the #2 reed and you will see it is weighted. More material means it will require a tad more energy to raise the note ½ step
Theory: raising the tuning of the reed requires the reed to vibrate at a faster rate (somewhere around 371 times/sec). This is accomplished by removing weight from the free end of the reed.
This is why I chose the sharp jeweler’s file from my Hohner tool kit. Tip: place your thumb on the reed just below the rivet to ensure your filing won’t accidentally pivot the reed on it’s rivet. Lay the file perfectly flat and move evenly and lightly in a diagonal path (4 to 6 strokes to start)
With the file, it did not take long to remove the necessary brass material. Remount to the comb, blow into the #2 hole and check against the Chromatic Tuner. Tip: Richter tuned diatonic harmonicas have a compromised Just tuning. This means your F# will be slightly flattened by -10cents
Now moving up to the #5 blow reed, you will notice that this reed is not weighted. For non-weighted reeds, the Jewelers file can be damaging.
I recommend one of the 3 choices shown above: (Left) Ceramic file, (Mid) Sanding Stick, (Right) Sanding Wand
The technique for the Sanding Wand is similar to the Jewelers File--just not as abrasive
Repeat the entire process for the DRAW reed plate
Please report back to us. Readers will be waiting with bated breath!
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Wow! Thanks for the detailed response! I will give this a shot once I can get my hands on an analog tuner. For some reason my phone does a really poor job at picking up harmonicas. When I use Cleartune with my harmonica it really struggles, but works perfectly fine with a guitar.
If you have an Apple iOS device, there is available a free Chromatic tuner, by Jo and Andy at Stonekick, called "Tuner-Pitched". I just ran it through some initial testing and am satisfied that it is accurate and easy to setup/use. Let me know if you need help dialing in the settings
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Unfortunately, I have an Android. But it seems like "Pitched Tuner" might be the Android equivalent. From initial usage it seems to work quite well. Being able to bump up the gain on the mic is quite useful since I believe that is my issue with Cleartune. I make an attempt to retune my harp this weekend and report back
Great! Looking forward to hearing back from you
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Got the 2 blow tuned up from a C to C#. Took a while, but eventually got it. Having the Hohner tool kit is quite useful. Gonna work through the rest during the week. I am planning on swapping the nails for screws and doing some sanding on the comb as well. Will take me a while until it is done, but I like the MB sound a lot so it'd be nice if it was a bit more playable
The retuning process will go much quicker with the "non-weighted" reeds. By the way, I'm glad you brought up the issue you were having with your Clear Tune, motivating me to find an alternative. Since then, I myself have been using and so far impressed with the new Tuner-Pitched app.
I applaud you for attempting a full-on harmonica customizing project. Let us know if you encounter any snags--we are here to help you.
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Hi there Vuddah2, it's good to hear from you.
Yes. Easy peasy to revert a natural tuned harmonica back to the original Richter tuning. Tomorrow, when I get back to my workbench--I will show you. Sleep well tonight and dream of jumping harmonicas. We will pick this up tomorrow!
Your Harpsmith, Kinya