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[Graham Spencer]

Anyone any suggestions for this little problem? On the pull "A" on my Saltarelle D/G I sometimes get a faint but clearly audible harmonic an octave below the note, but only when playing quietly, and it creeps in after the reed has begun to speak. With increased bellows pressure the note sounds cleanly.  I suspected a valve issue and replaced the valve, but it still happens. The set & alignment of the reed seem OK, and I've tried pinging it in case of any microscopic debris, but the ghost note persists. With the reed block out of the instrument and on the tuning bellows it seems not to happen. It's really just a minor annoyance, as at "normal" (whatever that means!) playing volumes there's no problem; however, if I'm trying to be quiet and expressive it can be a bit of a nuisance. No other notes on the instrument are similarly affected. Most listeners probably don't even notice it, but I do.......

Graham

[Steve_freereeder]

It sounds like you have a very small air leak which is causing another reed to sound, (a) possibly from one reed chamber into an adjacent one, or (b) if you have a three voice instrument like a Nuage, possibly in the stop slide port for that note, which is causing the low-octave reed to sound faintly at the same time if the port is not closing fully when the stop is closed. Try twiddling the stop to adjust the port up or down slightly on its screw thread.

If (a) you might need to remove the reed plate, run some PVA glue round the joins on the reed chamber, then replace the reed plate.

[Theo]

Which valve did you replace?   This sort of noise can occur if the valve which closes as you play is slightly arched up in the centre, for a pull note that is the one on the underside of the reed plate.

It could be a leak to the adjacent low reed as Steve suggests, but I would expect that to disappear as you pay harder.  It could also be an air leak under the reed block to an adjacent reed.

[rosenun]

Could it be from the bass end (the A of the D chord say) and as the pressure increases on the pull it could improve the seal of the bass pallet.

John.

[Graham Spencer]

For some bizarre reason the reply I posted yesterday didn't appear - maybe because we've been having a little trouble with our phone line so the internet connection has been a bit unstable and it just disappeared into the ether......

Anyway, thanks for all the thoughts.  It's a 2-voice, so it's not a lower reed coming into play. And I've been caught before by the "not-the-valve-that-you-think-it-should-be" scenario, so yes, it was the underside valve I replaced.  The notion of a tiny leak may be worth pursuing. I'm 99.9% sure it's not a bass reed.  As I said, it's not really a major problem as it doesn't happen under most circumstances - but it's bloody annoying when it does!

Cheers
Graham