[Harp-L] XB-40 mouthpiece - re-design?

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

My one complaint about the XB-40 (aside from the fact that it doesn't
come in a 12-hole model) is the mouthpiece and the way it meets the
covers.

The mouthpiece is a nice shape, but it ends abruptly with the sudden
steep barrier of the covers, which interferes with tongue blocking. I
tongue block a lot on the XB, and the wide spacing of the holes means I
really have to chomp deeply on the thing to make the spread on wide
intervals. At which point I hit against the covers.

Lowering the covers is probably not a good idea - when the instrument
is played loudly the reeds already buzz against something - I think
it's the covers; it might be the internal floors of the comb chambers.

The alternative is to somehow make a mouthpiece that finesses the
problem.

The mouthpiece could be made more like the mouthpiece of a modern
Hohner 64 - wide, with a shallow angle that both fills in the gap
between mouthpiece na dcovers and follows the contours of the covers.
This is not my favorite solution as I find the wide bit a little
uncomfortable.

I'd rather have a narrow angle that slopes upward consistently - the
CBH chromatics (or the Renaissance) are good examples. Of course this
would requre redesigning both mputhpiece and covers.

One way to get a mputhpiece that is reasonably narrow yet meets the
existing covers gently would be to male the mputpiece stick out farther
- perhaps about 5mm, which would allow for for it to be relatively
narrow yet still meet the covers without too big of a bump. 

Or it could be made to stick out farther so that it could still be made
relatively narrow profile (thereby fitting more easily in the mouth)
and meet up with the covers less abruptly.

Making the mouthpiece of metal would also be nice, as the plastic
version gets nicked fairly easily, ruining the smooth, gliding surface.

Is anyone else interested in this?

Winslow


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