A440 Tuning?
Hi Kinya,
My apologies. A lot of questions today. Richard Sleigh and you say to tune harmonicas to 442.
Steve Baker says use 443 http://www.harmonicaspace.com/harmonica-forum/maintenance-repair-customization/diatonic-harmonica-tunings--an-update
But on some of my Crossovers, they are stamped A440 on the top cover plate. Why all the controversy?
-Taylor
Awesome. Thanks for all the great info!
Hi, Kinya!
Does this mean that out of the box, all harmonicas are tuned to A440?
I ask this, because I just re-tuned five draw reeds that were all flat (4-8) on my Lee Oskar A harmonica using the ClearAudio tuner set at Equal Temperament and A442. I didn't touch any of the blow reeds or any of the other draw reeds, and it sounds very much in tune to me.
Hi SF George
Hmmm... do us a favor and document/sumbit the readings from all twenty LO reeds.
Lee Oskar harmonicas are tuned to 12 tone equal temperament, and should not drop down to <8>. I'm curious ...
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Hi Taylor
Back in the day, waaay before diatonic harmonica players learned to locate the missing notes by "bending" reeds, concert A-440Hz was the world standard for all orchrestral instruments. To keep up with the vintage vibe, Hohner continued to stamp A-440Hz onto the Marine Band cover plates.
We discovered over time that playing the diatonic harmonica in this "unintended" method (greater air pressure), actually flattened our harmonica relative to everyone else in the band--making us horribly out of tune.
Harp Techs discovered that if we compensated the tuning slightly sharp, our new style of playing the diatonic harmonica will be in tune with the rest of the band.
Calibrating the chromatic tuner in the 442Hz ~ 443Hz range seems to agree with most muscians.
Your Harpsmith, Kinya