Hi All,  I saw a post from Robert Linnstaedt today about harmonica
reeds so I decided to add some info.  If you are thinking of building
a small mechanical organ using harmonica reeds, watch out for the
following pitfalls.

Harmonica reeds require a large volume of air to operate and the
distance between reeds is very small.  When you play a harmonica you
bend the some notes via breath control to get flats and sharps.  These
notes will not be available if you build using standard reed plates.

There is one other hidden danger that came back to bite me!  When air
flows through a reed it needs to be able to flow away at a faster rate
than it is coming in at.  Any kind of back pressure or air turbidity
will cause the reed to only buzz or squeal.  This fact killed my organ-
ette design.  If you mount both reed plates in a pressure system all
will be okay.  If you flip the plates over for a vacuum system you will
soon find mounting clearances become very close.

Now the good news!  Yes, it is absolutely possible to make a nice
little barrel organ using harmonica reeds.  I have several pictures
from my book "Building a Barrel Organ" that uses harmonica reeds up
on the following sites:  (shameless plug)

  help://www.txdirect.net/~egaida/  &  http://mmd.foxtail.com/exchange/

John Conrad Kleinbauer
Kleinbauer@juno.com