Re: Subject: Re: Subject: Re: [Harp-L] SPAH 2010 Comb Test: Retraction & Apol...

[MundHarp@xxxxxxx]

Elizabeth said:
<<
I've just read John Walden's post - and am somewhat taken  aback by  
his experiences. I took MY wood-bodied chroms to Arizona in 2006   
(Bonfiglio's 
Seminar at the Grand Canyon) - they were with me in Phoenix  and  
Scottsdale 
as well for vacation after, and two weeks previously I  had them  along 
with 
me at Denver, SPAH (extremely high  altitudes).   They  then came back with 
me to extremely humid  Long Island, during the height of  moist weather 
conditions here (I'm a  few miles from the water at just above  sea level). 
 I 
didn't have  central air in my home at the time....exposing  them to nearly 
as  
extreme conditions as John has described in the  Philippines. At the  time 
I 
played Super 64's, 270's and 260's almost  exclusively. They all  survived 
very nicely (sans humidor). I've had only one  single  chromatic body crack 
over 
the years - the twin of my favourite little   260. It happened far more 
recently, and purely because the chromatic  was  dropped onto a hard 
surface.

So what's to account for this - Am  I just lucky?  Or am I simply one  out 
of hundreds of thousands of  wood-bodied chromatic owners who find the  
whole 
bias against wood just  a wee bit silly?
>>
 
I guess I was just unlucky! On one particular day in particular... I'd  
been playing my harmonicas on a sunny patio out in the desert at lunchtime, in  
100 degree heat... I then drove two hours up into the mountains to play an  
out-door gig at a barbeque party... It was, unexpectedly,  about 30 degrees 
 F, and it REALLY felt cold!  Water was literally freezing in the  plastic 
cups.
 
Not only did my harmonica combs split... But the crystal in my JT-30  mic 
also died that same evening. I honestly don't see what I could have  done to 
prevent it... But of course by the time I realised what  had happened, it 
was too late anyway. And no, I didn't drop the instruments  onto a hard 
surface.
 
I have nothing against wood as a comb material, it's just that I have had  
too many chromatic harmonica pearwood combs split on me!
 
Best wishes,
John "Whiteboy" Walden
Cebu City
Philippines