RE: Customised harps

["Tim Northcutt" <hotrodmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mr. Tate sez
"If you find a good customize then the harmonica you get will indeed be a
revelation."

There you have it from a man that knows the shape of a reed, the feel of the
air passing over that reed and the response that results from the work that
went into it.
 I encourage every harp player to experiment. Tweak, gap, tune, tape, bees
wax, poly-vara-saladbowlthane, solder and hammer your harps. Find what works
and what doesn't.
 Want to know the secret that we customizes have? Here it is.  (Sorry Joe,
Richard, Jimmy, Bob, Tim, G and the rest of us) The secret is patience, a
willingness to study, an open mind, motivation, no fear of screwing up, an
investment in tools, a sense of humor and a little canister of Little, Big,
Sonny, Paul, William, Rick, et al Mojo dust.
 I follow the bees wax, micro-pore, milled acrylic path.     Others pursue
different materials.
 I find the work pleasurable and therapeutic. I put those feelings into the
harps I work on. I try to pass that feeling on to my partner, Marc.
  We are all trying and succeeding in making our instrument better.
 Don't be afraid of experimenting. Purchase a harp from any one us that do
it professionally. Take it apart, study it and try to copy it on your own
harps. Or, just play it and enjoy it.
 Either way, it's time and money well spent.
 Tim
...nothing beats a hot rod
www.hotrodrecords.com


- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf
Of Douglas Tate
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 2:41 AM
To: Harp-L
Subject: Re: Customised harps



I am not a customizer, ILUS makes a harmonica from the roots up...
therefore I can speak a little without bias.

If you find a good customizer then the harmonica you get will indeed be a
revelation.
People talk about the fact that the harmonica will be even over it's entire
range, that it will be set up the way you want it, it will be able to bend,
bow, howl or anything you have asked the customizer to do.

All this is true.

However there is a little extra.

Because the instrument is so even you find that you don't have to play so
hard to achieve the same result.

Why?  With an uneven stock instrument (and they aren't all uneven) you tend
to compensate for poor notes by blowing harder on all of them to make
certain they work!.

As you get to know your custom harmonica you find that a relaxation takes
place. This has the effect of not straining the reeds so much and players
almost invariably report greater life length for the harmonica.
This can be a big consideration and some players will tell you that they
haven't had to change their harmonica since having it customized.

This can be a big consideration when equating the cost!  Unfortunately it
is layout ahead of the benefit.   Just depends on where your priorities lay.

Douglas t





- --
Harp-l is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
Hosted by ValuePricehosting.com, http://www.valuepricehosting.com