Re: [Harp-L] nails, nails, nails.... anybody like nails?

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Garry Hodgson  wrote:
not me.  but i'm curious.  what do you like about them?


I'm not that crazy about nails on a chromatic. But I do like them on diatonics. Specifically, I'm thinking of the old Seydel Solist (it now has screws) and the Marine Band, I did not ilike the pins on the old Golden Melody. First, I think they look cool and I love old prewar harps, so nailed harps have a little prewar in them. I've never seen this with a Seydel, they do a good job with this, but I've had some MS harps that had warped reeplates because the screws were too tight, or torqued incorrectly at the factory. You, of course, want the reedplates to lay flat. With nails, flat is the only option. When I put a nail harp together, it's extremely tight and held at numerous pressure points. Seydel's screwed harps are also really tight, the Solist for instance, has as many screws as the Marine Band does nails. 
There was a time when I preferred screws and hated nails... when you take the nails out and put them back in, the nails don't fit as tight, unless you put something in the nail hole, the broken tip of a toothpick. After about the second time of breaking off a toothpick tip in the nail hole, you run a risk of cracking the comb with additional toothpicks. I've figured out a better way. The toothpick holds the nail from the bottom of the hole, but I thought maybe it would be better if the wood shim held the nail at the sides instead. What I do is take a bamboo shish kebob skewer, split it into splinters, but a splinter in the hole, break or cut it off and trim it flush. Now, when the nail goes back in, the splinter hugs the nail from the sides, ending the problem I had with toothpicks and comb longevity. 
I take apart every nailed harp I get and seal the comb, do the bamboo thing and the harps are extremely tight.  
I play a lot of screwed harps, but I have more fun working with nails. Perhaps, I am crazy. Just wondering if anyone else is. 

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