Re: Customised harps

[Howard Chandler <chandler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob Maglinte and others have made very convincing arguments on the 
economic benefits of buying a custom harp vs thinking that one can save 
money by doing it yourself.  For a gigging musician or an amateur with 
the dough these arguments all make good sense.  For the amount of labor 
that I've heard goes into these things, the price is more than 
reasonable.  I can see that plumbing the depths of this craft can become 
like any other hobby run amok.  Kind of like buying a $30K bass boat to 
save a few bucks on seafood.

To understand my own motivations for wanting to know how it's done has 
more to do with my day job, where I work as an engineer in the acoustics 
division of a national research laboratory.   So in some respects, it 
has more to do with intellectual curiosity.  Of course I'm interested in 
honing my playing skills, and developing new ones that I hear are 
possible only with a well adjusted harp.

However, I can't say that I'm all that dissatisfied with my stock 
harps.  Since going over to the plastic combs I get much more consistent 
quality than I ever did with the stock MB's.  I've learned to be much 
more careful with them than I used to be when I was younger and wilder.  
It's been a long time since I screwed up a reed by blowing it wrong.  It 
usually has more to do with potato chips and other party food.  I 
learned a long time ago that about the only time I have a reed go south 
is when some knucklehead has decided to give my harp a blow when I'm not 
looking.  Now I'm a lot more watchful about them, and almost everybody 
in the family knows not to screw with them.

Of course, as with anything, there is a middle ground.  Just like every 
guitarist should know at minimum how to tune his guitar, there are harp 
maintenance tasks that one should learn in due course such as how to 
safely get that piece of popcorn dislodged from the comb.  Eventually 
most guitarists will learn to set their own intonation and so on (at 
least roughly), and inevitably an avid harp player will become more 
emboldened to tackle things like gapping and tuning etc.

To summarize the things I've learned:
1.  A good seal between reedplate and comb is essential.
2.  Proper reed gapping, shaping and slot clearance coupled with a more 
sensitive playing style are necessary to produce reliable overblows.
3.  Smoothing sharp corners on reedplates and combs makes playing safer 
and more comfortable.
4.  Providing cover clearance for the long reeds will eleminate low note 
rattle
3.  Opening up the back of the covers can increase loudness and improve 
tone.

I've also received a good deal of practical advice concerning sealing, 
finishes, screws and even embossing.  In some cases, I've been given the 
impression that there are other secrets that I ought best to learn on my 
own either because they were taught not to reveal the secrets by their 
master, or because these skills were hard won and I will need to pay my 
own dues.  Either way, I understand and am grateful for all that has 
been so graciously offered.

Anyway, thanks for reading my meanderings and for all the great advice.

Howard Chandler