[Harp-L] Soaking plastic combs / Rick Epping's post on embossing

[Richard Sleigh <rharp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for your replies - i got a couple off list in addition to what  
appeared in the thread. After I jumped into the comb controversy I  
started to wonder if I was hearing things accurately, and this made  
me wonder if anyone else would get the results that I got when I  
dipped a plastic harp in water. Seems that they mostly do.

This is what the thread on soaking harps got me to thinking about:

I did not want to trust my own impressions after the comb debate made  
me question my ability to hear things accurately.

I think it makes the harp louder and also different sounding... but I  
wanted to know what others experience (or think they experience)  
before I posted my thoughts on what I believe is happening.

One of the things I learned that intrigues me is that I have been  
told that triangle players put a drop of water in the gap of the  
triangle - to improve the tone.... My impression is that the harp  
tone changes a bit as well as getting louder.

Plus the water will cling to the reeds , especially near the rivet  
end, by surface tension. So it will close up some of the gap and  
increase compression. Temporarily.

So there is more to soaking than making the comb swell. Maybe this  
has been covered before, but this aspect of the soaking discussion  
seemed to be missing. It is not a huge, life changing bit of  
information, but can be useful sometimes. The effect lasts long  
enough to get you through a solo, and if you have an underachieving  
plastic bodied harp, it would be a good thing to remember.

Great post on embossing, Rick. When I first learned about this, the  
term I was familiar with was burnishing. this naturally reminded me  
of a tool that I used as an art student that was called a burnishing  
tool. I used them on zinc and copper plate etchings and engravings to  
push down areas on the plate to make them hold less ink. So I dug out  
my old burnishing tool and that is what I used for quite a while  
until I learned other ways to emboss. You can find these tools in a  
good art supply shop or Dick Blick catalog. they look like a  
flattened rod that has been brought to a rounded tip, usually bent at  
the end a bit. Made of tempered steel, highly polished.

The chamfering photos are beautiful - your craftsmanship is truly  
inspiring!

Richard Sleigh

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