[Harp-L] Comb materials debate (Vern)

["geoff atkins" <geoffatkins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Vern described experiments made with combs of different materials
and that not one of 30 people present could hear any difference.
(They perhaps had been sucking on the lead(!) comb).  :)
To digress, I've had lead poisoning as a child, and almost 60 years later I
can remember the agonizing headache and nausea. 
Making a comb from lead was a foolhardy exercise, I hope Dr Walden didn't 
suffer the same way.

Back to the present, I changed my "pear"-wooden combs to stainless steel,
Covers were unchanged. A musician friend -and I- immediately heard a
considerable difference.
The harp was louder and crisper / brighter in tone.
.

The laser-cut steel had identical dimensions to the wood, (which I'd miked
to get the cad drawing dimensions), but the corner edges were radiused.

> Seems to be two fundamental questions in this debate:
> 1. Does comb material affect tone?
In the case of stainless steel versus Pearwood:  yes.
> 2. If so, can the affect be heard by humans?: 
If the trained ear of the listener is quite near ( a couple of metres) 
to the sound source: yes.

What was wrong with my procedures?
1) I knew which harp I was playing, and could have affected the outcome.
2) The listener has extremely precise sense of note and timbre, so he's not
representative of the "normal" listener.
3) Internally radiused combs could affect the performance of the chamber.

Next steps: None, I'm convinced.


Geoff Atkins