Re: custom diatonic harmonicas

[Christopher Brunner <chrisbrunner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

yeehaw@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
> I can't help making some comments on the recent custom harp thread.
> Some people seem to be of the opinion that it is a simple process to turn
> a stock harp into a professional instrument.
Hi
I think the message coming out of the recent thread regarding embossing 
and custom harps is not that it is easy to turn an out of the box harp 
into a harp as good as those produced by customisers, it's more that you 
can fix your own harps and return an unplayable dog back into a decent 
instrument.
	I recently posted on how I made a PVC comb for a Marine Band, this was 
mainly driven by the fact that I had a D harp with a buggered 
comb.Recommended Retail for a MB here in Australia is around $44.00.
it was not my intention to turn it into a super harp, just to get it 
into a playable condition again.I'm not going to fork out $44.00 for a 
new instrument when for a couple of hours work and nil money spent I can 
turn a piece of crap back into a useful instrument. The same with reeds 
and windsavers learn to do it yourself.
	Maintainence on your harps is no substite for a customised harmonica, I 
certainly can't claim to be able to set a harp up for overblows or do 
embossing or any other of the things that customisers can do for their 
customers, but I can fix most of the regular problems that happen to out 
of the box harps.

					Regards
                                           Chris Bruner