RE: marking/carrying your harps [long]

["Michelle LeFree" <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ray, Chip, Bobbie, steven, The Iceman, and Ryan have all recently commented
on marking harps, a perennial problem.

Unmarked harps ~were~ the bane of my existance, and I betchya I'm not the
only one.  They have given rise to a ritual "dance" that only a harp player
would know (and hate).  I call it the "Blind Harp Shuffle".  It involves
periodically (at the beginning of each song) picking up half-dozen or so
harps one-by-one, and squinting at the shiny covers on a dimly or harshly
lit stage un a hurried manner and selecting the correctedly keyed harp,
often coming in a few bars behind the rest of the band.  Oh, yeah, you gotta
pick up the wrong harp or try to play one upside down now and then if you're
really doing the 'Shuffle.  For me, this senseless ritual was a real trial
by fire and constent source of embarrassment.

After an extensive search, I've come upon what I feel is the definitive
solution for labelling harps.  It's a hand-held label maker made by Brother
(P-touch, mine is model PT-1700):

http://www.brother.com/usa/label/whatsapt/pt_whatsapt.html

I see that Brother has a newer model 1750 and other less expensive P-Touch
models as well--you might want to look around at your office supply store.
The label printing engine is probably the same for all models.  The 1750
model sells for around $50 and prints on some sort of laminated plastic
strip that sticks very well and seems to be water-resistant (I've soaked a
labelled plastic comb for two days in dish-soaped water without signs of
deterioration).  The labels are white with crisp black lettering, a
self-adhesive side and a plastic side.  You can adjust the simple block font
to be of different widths and heights.  I've found that the widest and
tallest font with 3/8" tape nicely fits the back of a diatonic comb and
yields a highly visible label.  You just type in a list of the keys of your
harps and print it.  You get one long strip with all your keys printed on
it.  Since the characters are stored in memory even when you turn the
printer off, you can print another strip at any time.  One catch--you do
have to cut them out and trim some top and bottom "white space" off the
labels to make them fit the back of the comb well.  Cut 'em out, stick 'em
on and you're good to go.  Problem solved!

Also, when I label my harps in this way, I place them holes-down in a
customized foam block (more in a minute).  This way, since the labels are
placed so that the top/bottom of the harp matches that of the label, in
addition to the key of the harp, I know at a glance which side of the harp
is up.  No more squeaky notes when you think you're on the low end of the
harp and aren't.  Just pick up a harp label-up and rotate it sideways 180
degrees 'till you see the holes and start blowin'.

As long as I'm on the subject, I'll share a neat little idea I found on the
'web for padding a harp carrying case.  It's a product called "Figure Foam",
sold as a component of a system for carrying toy army soldiers, believe it
or not.  These aren't kiddie toy soldiers, but ornate metal models that
grown-ups evidentally make, collect and use to stage renactments of famous
ground battles.  I did not know that there is a whole cottage industry built
around this hobby, but these trays made out of scored foam of varing
thickness are just the thing for making a custom harp case.  Here's the
link:

http://www.saboldesigns.net/website/figure_foam.html

Here's how I made my custom harp case centered around these foam trays (that
are just like the "Pick'nPluck" foam in the expensive but excellent Pelican
cases).  I ordered two 1" thick Figure Foam trays for about $5 each.  The
foam is scored in 1/2" square blocks that are 1" deep.  I plucked out the
scored foam blocks in a pattern of 4" X 1" compartments (that fit a diatonic
perfectly with a little room for your fingers to pick them up).  One 12 1/4"
x 7 1/4 " tray can hold 10 diatonics with room to spare and plenty of
padding between the harps.  In the second foam tray, in addition to more 4"
x 1" compartments for the rest of my diatonics, a 2" x 6" compartment holds
my 12-hole Chromatic and 1" x 6" compartments hold my 14-hole Marine Bands
nicely.  So, I have my whole harp gig kit in two trays.  I fit these trays
(one on top of the other) and a felt-covered box I fashioned out of
cardboard into an old laptop case.  The box, which has compartments
containing my mic's, fits along the back side of the case, with the two foam
trays full of harps stacked in the front.  The case's pockets hold my mic'
cables, note pad, circle of 5ths, business cards, etc., very handily.  When
I'm on stage, I simply pull out the top tray and lay it on my amp or other
surface.  I've got 10 harps at my fingertips and I can tell at a glance what
keys they are and which sides are up.  When I'm done with a particular harp,
I put it back in the same compartment from which I removed it.  That way I
always have my harps organized and ready at a moment's notice.  No more
"Blind Harp Shuffles" for me.

Not a bad solution for $10 in foam trays and a $50 label maker (that has
many other uses as well).  Oh, yeah, since I found the foam trays, I noticed
a product at Sears for making custom tool chests that is very similar,
except that it didn't have a closed-cell foam bottom like the Figure Foam
trays do.

You need look no further for how to label (and organize) your harps!

Hope you try the label printer, especially, and the Figure Foam
trays--together they can make a very nice system that really works.

Michelle