Phil,
I initiated myself into harp modifications and repairs last year.
Among other things I bought the Lee Oskar toolkit, a chromatic tuner, and tools from Bill Romel. Absolutely no regrets on these investments. I have picked up or improvised a few other things here and there.
My only suggestion is to familiarize yourself with the innards of harmonicas
and with repairs before looking at the custom harps. I haven't yet checked
out any custom harps, and the more I know about mods and repairs, the more I
want to. But I think it's useful to get your hands dirty and find out first
hand how durable and delicate reeds are. Find out what it's like to arc a
reed. Get a feel for tuning, both in terms of working with a tuner and
developing your ear, and also in terms of how much to file a reed and where,
and which tool to use. Try embossing and get a feel for that, too. Find out
about controlling squeals if you are customizing for overblows.
Tinus' site is one good place, for sure.
Seydel has some pages on harmonica repair that you might find useful: http://www.seydel1847.de/epages/Seydel.storefront/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Seydel/ Categories/Workshop/Repair
Search the harp-l archives for info on specific topics.
Etc.
All the best,
John
So I want to get into the wonderful world of harp modifications. Here's the plan so far: Buy a couple custom harps as models, buy a bunch of cheap old standbys, a toolkit, and look at Tinus' website. Any tips?
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