Re: Jaggy wet harps

[timm@xxxxxxxxxx (Tim Moody)]

:I have a Marine Band in A which, after reading in a couple of books that it
:was a good idea to soak (wooden) harps before use, and to shave off
:protruding
:bits of comb while soaked, I did just that.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! The most basic misconception is that soaking
helps your harps. You ARE destroying them by doing that, read on. Basically,
yes you improve the sound when you soak it. Of course you do. You have just
swollen the wooden comb around all those little air leaks. The makes a tight
seal and a sweet sound. You have also just sent it down the path to
destruction. The big probelm here are the nails that hold down the
reedplates to the comb and the nails that hold the cover plates to the comb.
These are the most important parts of the harp to keep airtight(reedplates
and coverplates) and in good condition. When you soak a harp the water is
trapped in these holes and after a period of time dry rot forms, and the
comb warps slightly after drying, and your harp will never seal after that.
The best way to avoid this( and the swelling problem) is to use a sealant on
the wooden comb. This however, is not a task for the light at heart. It is a
lengthy process that involves removing the reedplates and re-attaching them.
A simple trick involves taking a new harp and with a syringe(sp) gently
apply a drop of PURE lemon oil to each side of each hole in the comb, and
letting it stand holes down over night( for any excess). But again a little
experimenting is in order. The bottom line is we need to keep our harps
alive. Soaking is a very short term solution and an expensive one when you
go thru a lot of harps.

Tim Moody
MississippiSaxophone