rattling on my 3 hole draw A harp
My 3 hole draw on my A hohner blues harp produces a high pitched rattling noise when I play it, very similar sounding to the rattling caused by the reed hitting the cover plates on my G golden melody 1 hole (but higher in pitch). Pretty sure it isn't the reed hitting the cover plates, none of the lower reeds on my A harp rattle and i get rattling even with very soft playing. I googled around and it seems like the most likely cause is due to the reed being misaligned with the reed slot, however i opened up the reed plate and held it up in front of a light, the reed looks pretty aligned to me. Are there any other possible causes you guys can think of? The noise is really annoying.
Thanks in advance.
Tristan
Yup i have a marine band with a mushy comb (i rinsed it out once and left it to drip dry, and it never really dried off completely thanks to the disgusting humidity where i live). No rattle on the 3 hole inhale. I'll open the blues harp up again when i have the time and have another look at the reed.
just to clarify, a misaligned reed would look slanted in the slot and when held up to a light, the edges would be illuminated unevenly? or does misaligned refer to the height of the reed above the reed plate?
You're correct, "slanted in the slot and when held up to a light, the edges would be illuminated unevenly."
Check the reed for material dragged off to the side from filing/tuning. One little brass "hair" is all it takes to cause a problem......
thanks for the replies, i took the reed plates off and had another look at them, the 3 hole draw reed looks completely fine to me. I'll just put it aside for now and play other lessons, maybe pick up some new reed plates. Apparently the replacement reeds for the MS series are better quality than the stock ones anyway.
Hello Tristan,
Rattling reeds are extremely annoying. Try this out - with MAGNIFICATION:
1. Disassemble the reed plates from the comb
2. Hold up the draw reed plate up to a bright light source with the reed facing you.
3. Position the reed plate so that you can clearly view the the sliver of light surrounding the left, free end, and right sides of reed #3. Note: many of us have a dominate eye that we favor, alternate between your left eye and right eye and see if your image of the reed in the slot agrees with your double eye vision.
4. With magnification you will be able to see if there are any obstacles touching the reed and/or reed plate slot. In fact with proper magnification, this obstacle will appear to be as large as a Buick sedan! As Joe had suggested watch out for any burrs left over from a tuning file.
5. If you have discovered a burr, then I recommend stroking a precision modeler's scraper (micromark #80801) held perpendecular to the reed edge a few times to eradicate the foriegn radical. In a bind (pun intended ;o), I use a straight edge razor.
6. If you do NOT find an obstacle, then the reed must be off-centered within the reed plate slot. Use your reed wrench to pivot the reed on it's rivet axis to realign. If you do not have a reed wrench, gently insert a razor blade into the side of the reed that is touching the slot, and using the razor as a fulcrum, "push" the reed in the opposite direction for proper alignment.
7. Plink, plink, plink, re-assemble, play and test. Repeat as necessary.
"Play the notes people want to hear" (c) 2008
Kinya Pollard
The Harpsmith
Another tricky gremlin that can show up is a ding or nick in the reed slot on the opposite side of the reed........
Hey Joe,
Big 10-4 on those Gremlins!
Kinya
It does sound like a misaligned reed. Do you have another A Harmonica? If so, does it make the same sound? This will, for the most part, rule out that it's the user ;-)