[Harp-L] uncomfortable Manji plates

["Mike Butler" <butlermike@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I  recently started using Suzuki Manji harps as my main weapons of choice, I love their brightness, tone/timbre and out of the box playability,
but after having been using them for a while now I am finding that after a hard out blowing session that my bottom lip (especially at the 10 hole end)
is getting a bit raw and un-comfortable.
upon close inspection I notice that the reed plate edge extends slightly beyond the comb face and more beyond the cover plates, this means in essence
that I am sliding my lips along a steel blade albeit a blunt one but I am sure this is the cause of my lip irritation..!!
I picked up one of my Lee Oscar's that I hadn't used for a while to compare and  the relief was instantaneous..(it was like putting an old comfortable pair of slippers on)
all my lips could feel was the curved cover plates and rounded edges of the the comb, no steel blade as with the Manji's
..
so now I figure my options are to either go back to using the LO's as my main harps (and lose a bit of tone) or file the Manji plates back so they are flush with the comb
has anyone on the list performed this sort of modification and are there any downsides to doing this.?

I once tried a Hohner 'Crossharp' which had plates which extended even more than the Manji's which gave an even more 'knife blade' syndrome plus I was losing
air by not getting a good lip seal so these were practically un-playable for me.

I had noticed in a recent post a mention that the Suzuki Proharp cover plate's fitted the Manji's "perfectly"..this gave me a bit of hope for a solution to my problem
so I pulled out a Proharp that I had bought awhile ago (and never quite enjoyed playing) only to find that to swap the covers it would mean re-drilling the screw holes,
this doesn't sound exactly perfect..!! maybe I have a different model Proharp ? (it is a valved model)

anyone got any thoughts on this problem.?

cheers,
Mike in NZ