Re: [Harp-L] Custom Harmonicas - Worth It?



I do marine band (wood) combs for my own stuff. I have used in the past, micropore tape on plastic comb harps
to make a gasket. It helps quite a bit.


Scooter





You're talking wood combed harps only, I take it? or do you 'seal' plastic combs as well?
RD



"scooter" <10hole@xxxxxxxxxxx> 16/04/2008 5:26 >>>
I do all of my own harps myself. I'm certainly not nearly as good at it as
many of the rest of these guys but
here's what I notice. If you only smooth off the sharp edges on  the comb,
seal it and use screws, you'll have a longer lasting
harp. Why ??  Because you'll play much lighter without even noticing it. The
stock harps to me are a bitch to play.
They require so much air because they leak like crazy. The nuances and
pressure required are amazing just with
sealing the comb alone. If you get into gapping the reeds, you'll also
notice a big difference in the playability and pressure
required. If nothing else, try to get a harp with a sealed comb. With that
alone I get a couple years from a harp that would last
a couple months before.

Scooter




I read the discussions about custom harmonicas, and
custom harmonica patents, with interest.  Here's a new
related topic, something I've always wondered about
and not seen asked or answered.  Feel free to correct
any of my assumptions.

I would love to have customized harmonicas.  However,
I assume the reeds get fatigued at the the same rate
as those in stock harmonicas. I replace my harmonicas
regularly, after extending each harmonica's life
somewhat by filing a reed when it first goes flat.
Eventually, as we all know, that reed is gone forever.


I'm not well off. I can't justify buying expensive customized harmonicas that I will eventually throw away. I'm too frugal. (I assume they eventually get thrown away, like stock harmonicas). Are the customized harmonica users richer than the rest of us? Am I missing something?

Some of you, if you respond to this topic, will be
tempted to talk about changing one's playing style to
lengthen the life of the harmonica.  That's fine, but
my musical/bluesical style over the last 30 years has
incorporated plenty of hard blowing and drawing, and I
would rather keep that style than change it to save
money.

No disrespect is intended to the excellent customizers
out there; it's great you're doing it and great
there's a market for your work.

Cheers,

Wolf Kristiansen


__________________________________________________________________ Looking for the perfect gift? Give the gift of Flickr!

http://www.flickr.com/gift/
_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l


_______________________________________________ Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l





This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.