re: Soaking Harps

[Steve Jennings <100010.1152@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

M. Sax he say ... don't
Harmonica World he say ... don't
	There's no point whatever in soaking a a plastic-bodied harp - all it
will do is to make the (mild steel) rivets rust quicker - if you can't be
bothered to keep the mouthpiece clean with a dry toothbrush, and the covers
clean with surgical alcohol as often as you feel the thing is too disgusting to
put in your mouth again, well . . . 
	Maybe that's a solution to the "can I borrow your harp" thing - I don't
have this problem, 'cos mine are always covered in blood by the end of a gig,
which is a great off-turn for most (even drunken) folk. Maybe we should get some
harp-case stickers made - "Please don't ask to borrow my harps, as a smack in
the mouth often offends." or "No-one may borrow my harps unless they are
accompanied by all 16 great, great grandparents." or whatever.
	Seriously, don't soak harps ever - at all - for any reason - it ruins
them. The only reason it ever worked with wooden combs was the fact that the
liquid made the wood swell, overcoming any minor defects in the seal - problem
is that a) when the wood swells it tends to protrude past the leading edge of
the plates (try playing a circular saw blade if you want to know what this feels
like) and b) it distorts the shape of the reedplates, which is fine until it
dries out - when it goes back to one size smaller than it was before you soaked
it, which means that the gaps you started out with are now bigger than they were
before you soaked the harp to get rid of the gaps, which means that you've now
got to soak the harp again to get the comb to swell even more, so it can distort
the plates yet further etc etc etc
	If you hadn't noticed by now, I agree with Tim - don't soak your (or
anyone else's for that matter) harps.

Steve Jennings,
Editor, Harmonica World