Re: [Harp-L] Jason Ricci's Mongoose Free Harp Cleaning Method

[joe leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Jan 7, 2010, at 1:35 PM, Paul Routledge wrote:

> Smo-joe,
>
> I have never heard of sealing combs that way. How well did it work?
>
> Paul
>
> Hi Paul. It worked pretty good. It occurred to me after Woodstock.  
> While I had sealed a comb once or twice as a kid with Noxema, the  
> smell was kinda weird for a good while. But I didn't want to spend  
> my meager allowance on frivolities, so, living in a house with a  
> mother and older sisters, I used to steal whatever they had.  
> Noxema, cold creme, whatever. I would heat it to a liquid state and  
> dip the combs for maybe 68 seconds. Charlie Leighton used to use 3  
> in 1 oil. Yuuuch.

Then, when the hippies were coming back from Woodstock, someone lost  
a dirty ditty bag and inside were 3 Marine Bands. We put it in lost  
and found but after a year with no claim, Escheats required us to  
either send it to Harrisburg to the auction OR destroy it. Since  
there was virtually no intrinsic value to this stuff, I was to toss  
it in the dumpster and make out a sheet. So, I 'liberated' the MBs.

Taking them home, I disassembled them (ala Jason Ricci) and proceeded  
to boil the plates in whatever cleaner we had around. Then I took the  
combs and dipped them in my mixture. Being in the mountains of  
Somerset with brutal winters, I used to go through Vapo rub. So I  
took some and feeling it was too thick (basically vaseline..with  
camphor and eucalyptus), I watered it down with baby oil. It worked  
fine and I had the benefit of beneficial vapors for a while. Vapors  
that I was already used to.

When I came to the list in 2000, I heard about people dipping combs  
in bees wax. Wow, I started to laugh uncontrollably. Btw, Vapo rub is  
EVERY bit as volatile as bees wax..maybe more-so...it's the fumes?,  
so I would melt it electrically. No open flame. Since I have an  
electric melting pot (for bullets), that wasn't an issue. Oh, and you  
have to watch the temp.

I kept the nails for the plates but attached the ends with mach screws.