nacoran
5 posts
May 15, 2009
11:45 AM
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Bronze Phosphorus, Stainless Steel, Copper, Plastic... Everyone says that it's the reeds and the sounding box that make the sound of a harmonica. I'm in the middle of trying to make a new set of covers for some Hohner reeds I have lying around. I started with a lump of clay and worked it until it felt really good in my hands. (I used the front of the Hohner comb to space the holes). The plan is to make a negative mold with some sort of epoxy, then make a positive out of something hard enough so bend a thin sheet of metal over, and weeeeee!!! my very own custom harmonica. I have no idea how it will sound. I may find that what feels good in the hand has nothing to do with what sounds good.
That brings me to the next question... those pesky reeds. It's probably beyond my current abilities to play with making my own reeds, but I have a friend who used to work at a metal shop (and his dad was a master welder.) It seems to me that the best metal, for durability, would be one that doesn't worry easily. I typed in 'best metal for repeated flexing' into Google and came up with this article.
http://www.pentrace.net/penbase/Data_Returns/full_article.asp?id=418
I'm not sure how well it translates. I read an old thread at harp-l where someone said they thought titanium was too light to make a loud noise. Gold wouldn't be! There are also memory metals, liquid metals (used in golf clubs because they hold so much bounce). I've Googled around and there doesn't seem to be much information on alternate reed materials. Has anyone seen/heard about any? How interested are people in it? (How cool would it be to have a gold reed harmonica if it actually played well. Remember, different materials have different kinds of strengths. Gold is soft, but it flexes without worrying.)
Anyway, just my thoughts. I have some other weird ideas for harmonicas, but I'll save those for another time!
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tookatooka
220 posts
May 15, 2009
12:45 PM
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I had the idea of electroplating a reedplate plus reeds with a layer of gold but never got round to it. I thought it may tighten the tolerances between reed and slot to become extra responsive.
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When I'm not blowing, I'm drawing.
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Andrew
326 posts
May 15, 2009
1:56 PM
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You'd have to think about tuning the reeds. Gold is heavy. If you tune the reeds then apply gold, it will put them out of tune. And if you put the gold on first, then you'll file some of it away when you tune the reeds.
I don't think the lightness of titanium would have any effect - what matters is how much air the reeds move, and that's just governed by their size. What matters is how springy the metal is - something ultra-malleable like solid gold just wouldn't vibrate. I've got no idea how springy titanium is.
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bluzlvr
190 posts
May 15, 2009
3:13 PM
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I sounds like you're trying to make my fantasy harp.
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nacoran
8 posts
May 15, 2009
8:34 PM
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buzlvr- Well, I'm trying to figure out what the perfect fantasy harp would be. I'm going to experiment with making a couple covers. Mostly I'm just trying to figure out cool ideas to see if anybody is doing anything with it. I read a lot of tech articles and I'm always thinking, why aren't they using this for harmonicas? (Or for mass transit, or for whatever one of my obsessions has my brain running in loops that particular day.) Huh, a maglev harmonica...
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Oisin
253 posts
May 15, 2009
9:44 PM
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I remember Buddha saying somewhere that he used to dip the reeds in Liquid nitrogen to alter them in some way.
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Patrick Barker
284 posts
May 15, 2009
10:22 PM
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I think the more important issue with reed metals is resonance. The reason they make brass instruments out of brass is because they have the right flexibility and because brass is a natural germ killer. Stainless steel is resonant but they don't make it into wind instruments because it would get nasty fast without the natural germ killing. But now they make the seydel 1847 with stainless steel reeds because of this resonance, and the reedplates are coated with german silver, which also happens to be a natural germ killer.
But you never know what materials might work. I have the feeling gold would blow out really easily (depending on the carats), not to mention the price. I know about the liquid metals too (I had a liquid metal tennis raquet). Those are really strong and flexible, I think that could work out.
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"Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche
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SUNDOG
66 posts
May 16, 2009
8:58 AM
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Having been (amongst other things) a Goldsmith/Silversmith Jewelry making person....
I can tell you that the only Silver in the material "German-Silver" is in the name of the material... actually it's a material also called Nickel-8lver but contains only nickel and copper and gives the appearance of silver ......As to it's antibacterial properties; I don't know, but as far as I do know Silver (Ag) and silver containing alloys do have some antibacterial properties.. BTW Coin silver used to be 90% Silver-10% copper..... Sterling is 95% Silver (Ag) 5% some other metal... Silver pure 99.0% Fine is too soft, hence the alloy with copper or other metals to make it less malleable and more springy/hard.
F&FfNA
"How about Gindick's Bo-Bo Tree Bark for a reed material or Ivory????"
R,
Neal aka: Sundog
Last Edited by on May 16, 2009 9:06 AM
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Patrick Barker
286 posts
May 16, 2009
10:28 AM
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Sundog- that's interesting, I had no idea
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"Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche
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MrVerylongusername
310 posts
May 16, 2009
12:37 PM
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That's true Andrew, but Neal is correct about "German silver". There's no silver in it. It's what they make clarinet keys out of amongst other stuff.
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