Re: [Harp-L] In the "old days" how long could you play an iniitally dry harp, before comb swelling occurred?

[Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Johnnie,

Many years ago, I used to soak my Marine Bands. I thought it did make them
more responsive to bending, but this may be purely subjective. With soaking,
the tines swelled out and made the harmonica uncomfortable to play. So, I
would then cut them flush with a razor; but, when they dried out, the tines
would shrink back into the comb area again making it difficult to play for
the opposite reason (tines were recessed from the playing surface).
Resoaking would reswell the tines, but they didn't always come back to a
flush state again.

It really got to be a bother, and soaking trashed out the harp in a short
while. The whole comb was impacted by the swelling and shrinking and the
harp got all twerped out.

I would suggest that if you have an old neglected wooden-combed harp, try it
for yourself. If for nothing other than to gain some historical perspective.

Eric



On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 1:15 AM, JohnnieHarp <johnnieharp@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> My recollection is that it didn't take too long; perhaps an hour with
> an unsealed Blues Harp or Marine Band? I do recall that it happened
> quicker than I would have liked and seem to remember that older harps
> tended to swell more quickly.
>
> Anyone else remember?
>
> I do have a virtually new MB key of B, unsealed from '82. Think I'll
> test it with this in mind.
>
> I'm still curious with regards to what performers / buskers of the
> past did to combat or deal with comb swelling? Can anyone confirm comb
> tine trimming of a swollen comb or witness or hear of specific
> examples this or other treatment approaches?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> JH
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
>