Fwd: [Harp-L] Re:Wood Combs

[Sean Murphy <taser8@xxxxxxxxx>]

This is kind of random, and may have been observed elsewhere, but it
sounds like you're recreating the conditions in a cigar humidor...they
usually have a humidifier to maintain a constant level of humidity;
sounds like a good alternate task for a humidor would be for harmonica
storage!


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:  <Helmuth2849@xxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 9:35 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Re:Wood Combs
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx


Hello, John Walden.

I've had the same 270 self-repair wood comb situation as you describe. I
live in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA area. Winters are cold and dry here
(sometimes as low as 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit), and summers are
normally  90 degrees Fahrenheit or below.

We do get high humidity and low humidity changes here.

I store my harps in a clothes closet, shelved behind cabinet doors.  The
harps are usually in their original cases, but many are in audio cassette
boxes that store 36 or more 10-hole diatonics.

Many years ago, on a television show ("Antiques Road Show"), I saw that a
collector stored some of his small collectables on shelves, behind display
glass, with a cup of water on each shelf. He claimed that this prevented dry
 humidity and cracking of his collectable wood items.

I tried it for my harps, and haven't had any cracked combs since  then.

I did notice before I tried that, the wood comb harps cracked and re-sealed
 themselves with humidity changes.

Best Regards

John "too old to die young" Broecker