Re: [Harp-L] 1st chromatic

["Vern Smith" <jevern@xxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Timothy J. Schutte" <kc8hr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 6:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] 1st chromatic


> Never had a problem with a wooden comb on any harp.

Did you ever have the partitions in a Marine Band swell beyond the front 
edge of the plates to irritate your lips?

Did you ever have to remove nailed-on reedplates to repair an inside reed or 
windsaver?

Because of hand sanding at the factory, did you ever discover that 270 
plates and wooden combs are not interchangeable?

Did you ever have nails that became loose after you removed the plates 
several times?

Did you ever observe the crooked warped partitions in a used wooden comb?

Did you ever have to re-sand the front of a 270 comb assembly so it wouldn't 
leak between the comb and the slide assembly?

Did you ever have a chromatic that had been stored in hot & dry conditions 
where the wooden comb shrank and the brass reedplates expanded 
splitting/breaking the comb?

Have you ever wished you could soak your harp to clean it?

You can see that for many reasons, I consider wooden combs to be 
abominations.  Losing F R Farrell as a supplier of plastic-combed 270s was a 
regrettable loss to the whole chromatic community.  Those comb dies must 
still exist and it is my hope that someone else can buy them and supply 
plastic combs as a rework kit if not as a complete harp.  If Farrell doesn't 
intend to use the dies, perhaps he could be persuaded to auction them on 
eBay.

A well-tuned 270 on a plastic or metallic comb with some work to optimize 
the slide clearance and thus minimize leakage makes an outstandingly 
excellent harp.  IMHO, such a harp is hard to beat at any price.

Vern