[Shion Arita]

Fixed it by sliding a piece of paper under the reed and pressing it hard to make sure it was flat. It probably was bent or twisted somehow.

Now everything is the way I want it 🙂

made a quick random recording testing it out: still pretty new to this so it’s kind of simple. Just a short Hirajoshi scale improvisation

https://soundcloud.com/shion-arita/improv-01

[Shion Arita]

guess that’s not how the tags work on this board

[Shion Arita]

key action seems the same. What do you mean by spaces between the keys?

if you mean the alignment of the plastic key pusher, then yes it’s a little off [img]http://i.imgur.com/idA4Q96.jpg[/img]

[Shion Arita]

tuning is done, but for the life of me I can’t get the high C to work right. It plays significantly quieter than the other notes near it and depending on the gap either is really airy and breathy or chokes. Not really sure what to do about it.

[Shion Arita]

Here’s an update: after playing a little more, I noticed that the intonation is actually pretty bad. Some notes are flat or sharp by as much as 12 cents (!) I’m not sure whether changing the gaps changed the tuning, but I don’t think that’s the main source of the problem since most of the motes are pretty off (and in wildly inconsistent directions) and I only dramatically changed the gaps on some notes.

So I’m now in the process of tuning it, using the scraping method. I practiced again on the El Cheapo, which I was able to get pretty well in tune, and now I’ve progressed to the M37C. Most of the reeds need tuning changes. I’m going to a tolerance of +- 3 cents, which is what I did on the El Cheapo and that seems to make melodies sound right and chords not crunchy.

In general, I’m really glad I started playing the melodica as an instrument and I’m learning a lot with my practice sessions (mostly on the instrument I already tuned for now). I definitely think it’s not at all deserving of its reputation as a child’s instrument and I think it should get more serious consideration

[Shion Arita]

Thanks for the explanation of prying the main body out of the metal case. That would have taken me a while to figure out on my own. Another thing I didn’t expect was the segments of the reed plate being taped together.

As for how I’m liking the gaps, I’m liking them a lot more decreased. I only really significantly decreased the ones in the lower register in addition to a couple of isolated notes elsewhere. I think it’s much better now. A couple of them had choking problems initially but I increased the gaps on those again and they’re fine. As for the tuning, it’s mostly good. There are a couple of notes that are a bit off, but I’ll deal with that later.

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