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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Question regarding Tuning please.
Question regarding Tuning please.
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tookatooka
853 posts
Dec 12, 2009
11:56 AM
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Been playing around with the Seventh String OnLineTuner for a while. Didn't have much success at first because no matter how I tried I couldn't get the strobe steady when using a harp.
However I've now figured out my mic settings and got it to work quite nicely. My mic settings were way too high and I got all manner of extraneous readings.
I'm now ready to retune an ET harp to Compromise or even to the MB JI tuning and want to know how accurate I need to be. I've noticed my harps are reasonably well tuned but some of the reeds may be up to 5 cents out as a worse case. But that may just by my error. I had not set to 443.
Please can anyone tell me (BBQBob) what is a reasonable margin for error. I will of course try to be exact but realise this will be quite difficult to achieve.
Thanks for any replies.
My aim is to retune a Suzuki to either JI or MB spec. If I can do this it will be my harp and tuning of choice and give me the best of both worlds.
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Last Edited by on Dec 12, 2009 12:23 PM
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Hobostubs Ashlock
179 posts
Dec 12, 2009
12:06 PM
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hey that tuner looks nice thanks for posting the link
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pharpo
12 posts
Dec 12, 2009
12:34 PM
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Great Link - Thanks !!!
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Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. - Charlie Parker
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mickil
707 posts
Dec 12, 2009
1:38 PM
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tooka,
I'm not sure whether this will help you, but, I think that the Manji parts are interchangeable with your Suzis, at least the comb has that central hole for the screws - someone please tell me if I'm wrong.
Maybe the Manji plates would be an easier solution. I presume they'll be sold separately. Brendon Powers could probably confirm or deny any of this via e-mail from his site.
Good luck with it.
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YouTube SlimHarpMick a.k.a. HarmonicaMick
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tookatooka
855 posts
Dec 12, 2009
1:52 PM
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@Mickil@ Thanks. I've been down that avenue. I've been assured that the Manji plates will fit various other Suzuki combs regardless of the offset holes for the Manji Covers, however the tuning seems a bit weird as far as I can tell. They are a unique Suzuki Compromise and I'm looking more for the Hohner Compromise or JI. Whatsmore, I haven't seen any plates yet for sale and have no idea of the prices but they won't be cheap.
If I can crack this tuning lark, it would be great for me. I hate being dependant on the whims of large corporations who just hike prices when they feel like it.
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mickil
708 posts
Dec 12, 2009
1:55 PM
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That does make a lot of sense. Maybe I should think about it.
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YouTube SlimHarpMick a.k.a. HarmonicaMick
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barbequebob
199 posts
Dec 12, 2009
1:58 PM
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First of all, harps are never tuned
to real A440 because in real playing breath, even with the lightest breath force, 98% of players on the planet are gonna make the pitch drop (and that includes nearly every big name pro you can name other than Howard Levy) and so harps are tuned in the neighborhood of A442-A443, with some as high as A445 so that when played hard, it won`t fall below A440. It`s VERY IMPORTANT that you use the LIGHTEST breath force you can physically manage so that the reading will be as accurate as possible. 5 cents either way isn`t too bad, but I must stress that your ears are an important tool and you cannot totally rely on the tuner alone. With comprimise tunings, like ET, the octaves have to be the same when you play them. With JI, not only is this true, but in addition you also have to check each note together with the other two notes of the chord, when the chord stops beating, then it`s fully in tune with itself. For the last 20 years, I`ve done JI tuning so much that my ears have become trained to know what to listen for and so like the way the people at Seydel or Hohner prior to the mid 80`s, I do it ENTIRELY by ear without the use of a tuner, and if you do JI long enough, you may be able to do the same at some point. Again, I have a complete list of tunings at http://www.harmonicaspace.com and also at http://www.deltafrost.com. If you go to the latter, in the search box, type in "Diatonic Harmonica Tunings - An Update" and it will pull that up. It shows both 7LJI as well as 19LJI, but also all of the comprimise tunings being used by Hohner since 1992, plus the ones used by Seydel, the Hohner MB X-over as well as the Suzuki Manji.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Last Edited by on Dec 12, 2009 2:06 PM
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tookatooka
856 posts
Dec 12, 2009
2:09 PM
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Yes, thank you kindly BBQBob. I've got copies of the tuning charts - very useful. This is going to be interesting education for me.
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