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From: Gordon Frazier
Production: JHG2005
Date: 1/25/2006
Time: 3:04:59 PM
It's true that if you want a precisely tuned instrument you are best off buying one that has been tuned by the maker. However, if you already own an untuned instrument and want to alter the tone, it is possible. For metal instruments, lowering the pitch entails adding weight to the plucking end of the tongue with solder or a drop of hard-drying rubber cement. The advantage of solder is that you can then file off a tiny bit if you have gotten it too low. Raising the pitch of a metal harp, on the other hand, entails removing material from the tongue, a tricky business which I would not advise. With bamboo instruments, raising or lowering the pitch is possible through the judicious application of beeswax. A tiny bit on the inner (thin) part of the lamella...that is, the tip of the part that is vibrating...will lower the pitch. A bit on the other side of the fulcrum (closer to where you pluck it) will raise it. I will reprint this note in the Spring 2006 issue of Pluck-N-Post with some illustrations to clarify what I am talking about.