Re: [Harp-L] Carbon Fiber Reeds, 3D printing, plastic metal adhesion technology...?

[philharpn@xxxxxxx]

I vaguely remember the plastic harmonicas. As I recall the reeds were part of the reed plate mold and counting the covers included four parts. I haven't seen one for decades except on display in collections at SPAH. And those were in a display case.


At about the same time, a plastic ukulele came out that was later advertised on the Arthur Godfrey and ultimately sold about 9 million units. The advantage of the plastic uke is that once the specs were established, each uke had perfect intonation (unlike the wooden models with irregular fret installations). The ukes were not bad sounding. They required many fewer parts than a wooden uke. But because they were PLASTIC they were regarded as inferior and TOYS. And everybody knows that anything is made out of PLASTIC is junk -- even when it isn't. 


 I don't recall how the plastic harp played but it would seem that latest harp technology could be incorporated. Now a plastic harp may never match a conventional hand-built harp but a 3-D machine might produce a superior prototype or even a useable plastic harp. 


The only thing I've seen produced by 3-D printers is a part of a gun. Making a harmonica "printout" would seem to be much easier because it is not as thick or tall.  


The cost of a 3-D printer is expensive ($10,000) and the printout equally expensive. But there may be a connection to the advancement of harmonica. And there are certainly more different kinds of plastic today -- some of them may even work with the 3-D printer.


Phil