Re: [Harp-L] Comb material - the last word?!"

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I would fall under a D category.

I make no secret of my love of wood. I love it. Plastic, hate it. Metal, not a fan. There is something about wood that I love. It is beautiful. I can relate to it. I can admire God's beauty in the grain. It is a connection to the primeval, it is an umbilical between the player and the forest. I can â and have â add up all the time I've spent in forests. The collective time is, seriously, measured in years. 

But what it is not about for me is tone. I can't really hear much of a difference on diatonics, the exception being hollow plastic combs like the Special 20, etc., I can hear that as I play, maybe it's more of a bone-conduction sound or feel, but I hear/feel too much treble on those combs. I don't think I could perceive a difference as a listener, but I'm not a listener, I'm a player. If there is a difference in what the player hears, I wonder if that would not be due to how the sound is conducted into the body.

If we want to find the differences in tone, coverplates are a far better place to look than comb material.
Coverplates aren't big enough to be resonant at the main pitch, but it could be resonant for some of the higher overtones and could muffle or not muffle other overtones. 
I notice the best tone from harps when there are no coverplates whatsoever. Seydel, back in the pre-war Richard Seydel Sr. days, actually designed a harp that could be played without coverplates, whether that was entirely designed as a way to keep a harp running after you smashed the plates or a mix of that and tone, I don't know. 
Another thing I've noticed is that when I crimp the covers and put chromatic coverplate supports on a Seydel Solist, I get an increase in volume. 

 So, I don't know... but in the end, I've figured out it is OK to like things even if I don't have a good reason. That's diatonics. On chromatics, I'll join the group of folks who swear they can hear something. 

DAVE
_____________________
Dave Payne Sr. 
Elk RIver Harmonicas
www.elkriverharmonicas.com 



----- Original Message ----
From: Tom Halchak <thalchak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008 9:46:00 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Comb material - the last word?!"

After some research and much conversation, it appears that:

a)Â Â Â This is a subject that has been debated many times in the past

b)Â Â Â There is no conclusive proof that comb material makes much
difference - however,

c)Â Â Â Those that do believe comb material produces a different sound are
prone to seek out and experiment with different materials - and there are
plenty available.



I think that I am one of the people who fall under category c. 



I need to correct an error in my previous post. That is that Mark Lavoie's
website does not have a shopping cart. http://www.middlebury.net/lavoie/Â; I
just didn't see it at first. You have to scroll down toward the bottom to
find "Ordering Information" below the testimonials. To Mark's credit, when
this discussion was started and the possibility of someone else entering
that space was postulated, he DID NOT pipe in with a "What about me? I've
making and selling these for years!" type of response. Pretty classy in my
opinion.



Having said, that, I see no reason to reinvent the wheel. Mark sells
replacement maple combs for only $20.00 on his site so why muddy the water?
Anyone who wants to try one would probably be better off doing business with
Mark. He obviously has vastly more experience than I do.



Since I am somewhat of a tinkerer, I will however, continue to pursue this
experiment and to those of you who expressed an interest, I'll keep you
posted about what I am up to and am still willing to send out samples if I
come up with anything interesting.



Tom H.

Clearwater, FL





E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (5.5.1.322)
Database version: 5.10730e
http://www.pctools.com/en/spyware-doctor/
_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l