Re: [Harp-L] Marine Band Crossover

["Vern Smith" <jevern@xxxxxxx>]

Bamboo may very well make an excellent mechanical comb 
material because it is laminated, straight-grained, hard, 
stable in the presence of moisture, readily available, and 
blonde.

I challenge the notion that bamboo or any other comb 
material perceptibly affects the sound of a harmonica.  If 
anyone can demonstrate the ability to hear differences 
between pearwood and bamboo combs under controlled 
conditions, they can win my $1000 wager!

You mentioned a "blind test" and that the participants 
played the harps "without knowing
the others' preferences or the materials tested" .  How were 
the distinguished players or listeners denied the knowledge 
of the comb materials in the harps that they were hearing or 
playing?  What was the test protocol?

I am also curious to know the mechanisms by which the 
properties of comb materials perceptibly affect "volume, 
tone, response, bending, overblow and general 
playability".....on a scale of 1 to 10!

Vern

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Baker" <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Harp-L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 5:17 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Marine Band Crossover


> I'd like to provide some background information on the 
> forthcoming  Marine Band Crossover and answer some of the 
> queries raised by  Sunnyside and Jonathan Compton. As 
> Hohner's harmonica consultant,  I've been closely involved 
> in this development from the word go and  have been 
> playing prototypes since 2007.
>
> We've been looking for alternative high quality renewable 
> natural  materials suitable for harmonica combs for years 
> and I've tested  loads without finding anything that 
> worked better for me than the  pearwood traditionally used 
> in Marine Band combs. Bamboo seemed a  suitable candidate, 
> as it's been used in Asia for millenia and grows  really 
> fast while requiring no aging, unlike pearwood.
>
> About 18 months ago I got the first fully sealed laminated 
> bamboo  combs to test (on the basis of an MB Deluxe) and 
> immediately fell in  love with the playing feel and 
> response. I've been playing them ever  since and as I got 
> more stuff to test, I began replacing the pearwood  combs 
> in my Deluxes wth bamboo. Now I rarely play pearwood any 
> more  except in the case of custom MB1896s. I recommended 
> Hohner to use  this material in a 10-hole model and tests 
> continued. Last autumn we  ran a series of blind tests on 
> reed profiles with myself, Howard  Levy, Joe Filisko and 
> Michael Timler from Harponline. As a secondary  issue we 
> also compared identical instruments with different comb 
> materials (pearwood, solid plastic, bamboo), in each case 
> giving  points out of 10 for volume, tone, response, 
> bending, overblow and  general playability. The results 
> were analysed by the Hohner R&D  department. 
> Interestingly, all the above test players independently 
> (at different times and places, without collusion and 
> without knowing  the others' preferences or the materials 
> tested) gave the bamboo comb  the highest overall rating 
> by a significant margin.
>
> Hohner decided to use this material in a new Marine Band 
> model, the  Crossover, which was unveiled at the Frankfurt 
> Fair last week (and  which Sunnyside got to play, hence 
> his enthusiasm). The comb is  completely water-resistant, 
> with bevelled corners and channel  openings, and the 
> laminated construction makes it very stable. The  sharp 
> edges of the reed plates are de-burred. The "new 
> compromise  tuning" lies between the traditional MB tuning 
> (itself a compromise  between just and equal temperament) 
> and 12TET.  It's basically how I  tune my own harps  - 
> all thirds (2, 5 & 8 blow, 3 & 7 draw) are  tuned only 6 
> cents flatter than the root note and the 7ths in the  draw 
> chord are tuned equal. This still gives good chords, but 
> allows  you to play in more than just the first 3 
> positions and still remain  reasonably in tune with other 
> instruments. All parts are fully  compatible with the 
> Marine Band Deluxe. The Crossover will come in a 
> semi-soft zipper case.
>
> To Jonathan Compton's points:
>
> Price: US$60 isn't cheap, but I share Joe Filisko's 
> opinion that it's  the best harp Hohner have ever made, at 
> least for my purposes. The  current reeds are extremely 
> durable and my prototypes have lasted  very well despite 
> heavy abuse.
>
> I won't comment on the comb thing except to refer to the 
> test results  mentioned above, the excellence of the 
> players involved and their  undoubted probity. For 
> whatever reason, we all independently had a  clear 
> preference for the harp with the bamboo comb.
>
> Launch date: I wish we could get series production running 
> sooner,  but I've got mine ;-). We're looking at a US 
> launch in time for SPAH.
>
> Hype: I wrote the Crossover promo myself  and tried hard 
> to avoid  hype and dubious claims.
>
> Reed plate thickness: 0.9mm reed plates are the standard 
> thickness  used on all Hohner Classic models. They are 
> currently exceptionally  airtight, bright and responsive. 
> If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
>
> Consistency out of the box is hard to guarantee but Hohner 
> is engaged  in active measures to further improve quality 
> control including  teaching employees to play so they are 
> better able to judge quality.  We're also working on 
> improving tuning accuracy and consistency.  These harps 
> should offer anyone who works on their instruments an 
> excellent starting point as well as being good out of the 
> box,
>
> Steve
>
> steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> www.stevebaker.de
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