[Harp-L] acrylic comb from Chris Reynolds

[JON KIP <jon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I recently got one acrylic comb from Chris for one of my Deluxe 270's and, coincidentally, a new set of plates from hohner. 

We did a barter thing.....in that he traded me an acrylic comb for some Money.

I put it all together with a mouthpiece I had laying around, and have been playing it for a week or so, however, now that the reeds are starting to settle in a bit, or, for those who believe that reeds don't "settle in",   now that the spit on some of them has had time to harden to the point where they aren't changing as much, I'm doing the reed tuning.

It came a bit sharp. Better than some, but still , if I had to fly on a plane with it, the TSA would be well within its rights to classify  it as a Sharp Object and put it down in the baggage compartment with all the Violins, which are well-known to be sharp.

I'm here to say that the Joy of taking the instrument apart and putting it together over and over and NOT having to worry about where the bolt holes may or may not have moved, is a fine thing. I have a bunch of Deluxes that NEVER change, but a few that have minds of their own, and are "iffy"....

that "click" as I backwards start each bolt is really nice to hear.

While lots of Smart People have differing ideas of how the comb effects  the sound, I'm not sure yet. The Plan is to have Chris send me five more and to build some more Deluxes to see if there's anything uniform about the acrylic vs the Good wood ones.

ok, I'm done. Nice Comb. Same price as Hohner's wooden ones. 

I'll figure out the sound quality angle as I have more information. IF I do five of them and they have some Universal Quality to them identifiable by me, and/or someone listening, I'll have some data.

Either way, I'm now able to accept all those Outside Gigs in The Snow that I've been turning down, lest my wooden combs crack.

downside of that is that I've recently lost some weight, and will have to buy a new Santa outfit unless I Pig Out on Thanksgiving.


jon kip
http://jonkip.com

player of music, mostly written by dead people and played on a toy that everybody's Uncle except my nephew's has the good sense to keep safely out of sight in a drawer.