Re: [Harp-L] hohner blues harp

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Steeltown Sam, I remember back when I took my leave of Hohner, they were held by two screws. This was around 2002, I think. There were holes for other screws, Hohner just never bothered to put them in. Never bothered to tune it either. Glad yours in better. You are right about the stiffness, that whole wide reed, wide chamber thing breaks down above E, regardless of maker. I've got a really good F sharp Marine Band from my old stock Hohner days. It's awesome. Starting experimenting with Hohner a little, not really happy with the Marine Band reeds, they look suspiciously Chinese. I wonder if the Golden Melody has suffered the same fate?

Sam, on that leaky D, try sanding on a flat surface, on both sides. It will probably take a good bit of sanding, but I have a feeling that might unleakify it. Anytime I've had unexplained leakage, it's been some kind of comb defect. OR maybe swap combs and see what happens. Yeah, that would better.


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




----- Original Message ----
From: samblancato <samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, February 1, 2008 10:25:50 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] hohner blues harp

Everybody's got their preferences.  I have several Blues Harps and I think
they're pretty nice one they've been tweaked.  And they aren't held together
with just two screws but four; two hold the reed plates to the comb and two
hold the cover plates AND reed plates to the comb.  Screws *can* hold more
than one thing at a time.  Even though the wood the combs are made from
aren't supposed to swell as much as the pear wood combs MBs use I still seal
with bee's wax and it does make a difference.  I have a B flat in my truck
that is perfect all the way up to 10.  This one is sealed and gasketed
(yeah, I know gasketing is supposed to be pointless - well it works).   One
of the reeds stuck the other day and after dissembling it, I discovered some
gunk (coffee?) and after cleaning it out and reassembling it, it plays even
better. 



I have a D that I've never done anything to and it *is* pretty leaky so
maybe out of the box they ain't so great.  But then it is a D and I will say
this about Blues Harps: anything above C is going to be stiff as hell.   For
D and up you're probably better off with MBs or even better Suzuki Blues
Masters.  The reeds just seem to be more responsive in the higher keys.   



The replacement plates for the MS series harps have a slightly thicker plate
and seem to sound louder.  I don't know why the plate is different (maybe
made at a different location?) but they work real nice.  



Sam

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