Harmonica Tool Freaks!

The R. Sleigh Reed Tool is now in final stages of tweaking and will be in production very soon. At this point (June 20th, 2015) I’m waiting to get reed tools delivered to me so I can ship them out to the people who ordered them through an offer I ran for a week. Once I ship these out, I will make the tool available on this website and at RockinRon’sMusicSD

This tool has been a long time coming. My goal is to make available the best possible combination of rivet punch and rivet hole flattener with a base that gives you enough mass to focus the force of a light mallet strike directly where it will do the most good.

One of the things I learned in the process of developing this tool is the difference between a hammer and a mallet. The important distinction is that a mallet is made of material that will give before it deforms what it is striking. the original definition of a mallet was a hammer with a wooden head used to strike a chisel.

I recommend using a brass 2 oz mallet with this reed tool. It gives you more control once you get used to the feel of the brass head striking the top of the punches. You won’t deform the top of the punch. This guarantees that the way the punch reacts will not change. I have an old Farrell tool with a punch that I clobbered with steel hammers and the top looks like a mushroom. I should have restricted myself to using the 2 oz mallet that came with it. Live and learn.

I’ll update this post when the Reed Tool is available again. In the mean time, I’ll finish developing a series of updated tools and supplies for reed replacement to complement this new tool… Stay tuned!