RE: [Harp-L] Hohner Blues harp vs. Marine Band... and repair !!!

["Mike Reid" <mreid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I play Marine Bands, and off topic, if I may, I'd like to know if there is anything other than shaving off my stach, that I can do to stop pulling the freaking whiskers out of my face while I'm playing.  I know it is noticeable because I squint and cringe when it happens. As a mater of fact I was playing last week and a girl from the audience came up and said 'you were so moved while you played I saw a tear come down from your eye.  Of course I did not tell her it was cause I'd just yanked a fistful of whiskers out of my face.  I've had my share of pain on stage a couple of weeks ago I was playing at Grossman's in Toronto and I had to use an old extension cord to plug in my rig (no Ground) I was holding my sure 533SA big heavy steel mic in my hand and singing into a 58 every time I had belt it out if I accidentally touched the mic with my lips I would get a jolt from hell that would send me back a ways I couldn't stop.  On the good side my lips were so numb I could feel the whiskers getting yanked out anymore.

Ground your amp guys.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Moyer [mailto:wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 11:41 AM
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Hohner Blues harp vs. Marine Band... and repair
!!!


Ron wrote:
> Question: do the dimensions of the BH reedslots make for a poorly  
> responding harp?

No.  I have a few Blues Harps that I like quite a lot.  My biggest 
beef is the depth of the comb tines from the front edges of the 
reedplates, and for that I just overdrill the holes in the comb so I 
can slide the plates back a little.  

The tuning gouges you describe were a big problem with MS harps made 
a few years back, and I haven't seen them in a while.  I think 
they're not using that tuning technique anymore.  I actually saw 
reeds with gouges that went all the way through on a Big River 
once.  

I believe that the newer MS harps are better quality than those of a 
few years ago.  I know that they are much less machine built than 
they used to be, and the quality of the hand-assembled production 
seems to be higher.

One thing you might want to try is moving the reeds farther down in 
the slots.  That should help tighten the response.

-tim



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