Re: [Harp-L] Re:Was American Chestnut combs, now stainless steel (Vern Smith, Dave Payne)

[fjm <bad_hat@xxxxxxxx>]

The Dude Harp is the creation of Steve Grimm.  Heck of a nice guy who 
assembles a very nice harmonica.  Semi custon is what I would categorise 
it as.  Here's the address, dudeharp.com  I have a G plastic comb of his 
that I still play many years after I bought it and it still works well 
and has never been retuned or had a reed replaced.  I bought a stainless 
steel comb, it's very heavy.  Mine's an MS series comb and I've got I 
think low D plates on it.  Very nice work.  I used to really like the 
metal combs, less so now.  Composites changed it all for me. Composite 
combs are flate and don't leak air.  They never swell, require no 
sealing and have strength that is more than adequate to the task. Did I 
mention they're light?  Drop any metal combed harmonica more than 3 
inches and I guarantee you will have knocked at least one reed out of 
alignment.  Not true with wood, plastic or composite.  fjm