Re: [Harp-L] An old soak on soaking

["hazcon" <hazcon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

When i first started buying Harps the only things available were basically 
Marine Bands.I had no teacher,no books and definitely no internet.Then the 
infamous Tony"little sun" Glovers' book appeared.Aha! Thats how they do it!
           Trouble is I couldn't do it....bend that is, so into the beer 
went the Harp and voila those bends appeared and with the added bonus that 
the Harp seemed to double in volume,whats not to like?
          Also i had no problem then with playing a harp for a couple of 
weeks and then just turfing it and buying another one.
         I don't use wood combed Harps any more but that is what we used to 
do to 'em way back when.

              I have a M/B that i bought about 10 years ago that is still a 
very nice harmonica and it is pretty well permanently soaking in an airtight 
container of Gin.(airtight is crucial)A few parings of the protruding wood 
dividers over the years and she is still good to go.
                                Problem is is that if i do pull out that 
old gin soaker i need a sober driver to get me home ;_)

Rick
in NZ


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Payne" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Harp L Harp L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2008 16:58
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] re: One (sort of) newbie's perspective


"Like when I were a lad, soaking harmonicas before playing them was,
factually, the right thing to do. Then we filed down the swollen comb.
Arrgh

Merry Christmas

Richard"


I think this only proves your point in the other part of your post about 
facts being fluid. There is NO reason to soak harps today with comb sealing, 
even factory sealing available, but I am always interested in history. I've 
been a vehement opponent of soaking harps, then, one day I was thinking, and 
I do think a lot about things that don't really matter- why I thought that. 
I concluded it was because somebody told me not to, which isn't good enough 
for me these days.
In thinking about soaking, I've concluded it was the lesser of the evils 
back in the day. When you soak a comb it swells, and the combs were cut so 
that they swelled out against the reedplate before the swelled up. When you 
file or sand the swelled comb teeth, the teeth will shrink into the harp as 
it dries, but soak it again and it's where it should be. So when you soaked 
it again, it got tighter and also it cleaned out gunk.
Beer was a bad choice, I think because of the sugars, but one can't rule out 
soaking because of that, regardless of when or what something is, not 
everybody does it right. And beer might have worked very well IF you were a 
guy that blew out a harp every few weeks. It would never have time to get 
nasty.
The one that intrigues me most is soaking harps in whiskey, especially 
bourbon, which begins life as moonshine and gets its color and taste from 
the stuff in the wood it's stored in that gets drawn out. It would have been 
a disinfectant and one of those things it gets from the wood, can't remember 
the name of it, but i mentioned in an earlier post, is a powerful 
antibiotic.

So, I wondered first what would have been left in the wood after a soaking 
in bourbon, or similar Kentucky-style whiskey, or Scotch. I got some Early 
Times, purely for the advancement of scientific knowledge and whatnot of 
course;) and put a drop on a plate to dry overnight. The stuff that was 
left, the wood solids, was fairly hard and, interestingly enough, water 
would pool on top of it. I imagine this would slow the moisture exchange of 
the wood, so the alcohol would remain inside longer and playing moisture 
wouldn't permeate as easily. My hypothesis is that that cleaned it out and 
controlled swelling at just the right amount of swell to keep the harp 
tight.
The next part of this test will be to soak an NOS Seydel Solist from 2006, 
the last full year it was unsealed and see what the whiskey does to the 
comb. I've decided since that the Early Times was unworthy of the Seydel, so 
I bought a little bottle of Maker's Mark. The Early Times will likely be 
used for "less critical" research.

I do not advocate soaking today. Back in the day, however, with what you had 
to work with and the unique situations y'all faced, it does appear to me 
that you old timers knew what you were talking about.


_________________________________
Dave Payne Sr.
Elk River Harmonicas
www.elkriverharmonicas.com
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