Mustache Catcher

[sawyer@xxxxxxx]

William Lippe writes:
 > 	The coverplate problem is interesting...  The groove down the 
 > front edge of the harp, top and bottom, seems to be intended to hold the 
 > coverplate, yet only on one of my harps does nearly all of the coverplate 
 > lie in the groove.  The ones which leave too much reed plate exposed also 
 > cut my lower lip.

Quite apart from problems of air leakage that may come from the gap
between the reedplate and the coverplate along the top of the comb,
there's another very annoying problem caused by a little gap that may
appear on the coverplate corner where the originally flat coverplate
is bent into its final form.  When the edges are bent down during
manufacture they are supposed to meet and form a seam perpendicular to
the reed plate on the corner.  The gap that may appear there is an
ideal "mustache catcher".  When you run up the harp, Ouch! And the
damn thing hangs on to the hair it's caught!  The solution is to bend
the gap closed with a pair of pliers -- after removing the cover
plate, of course.