Re: [Harp-L] harmonicas are not guitars

[Shirley Rowe <robertrowe2@xxxxxxx>]

I will correct you. Melissa Etheridge Yngwie Malmsteen play signature Ovation guitars made with an engineered composite body with a laminated carbon fiber top. Price - $4200. They make similar models in the same price range, with composite bodies and spruce or carbon fiber top, all fantastic sounding guitars. Furthermore, I have a set of the most sought after penny whistles in the Celtic music community, Patrick O'Riordan's C/D set, made from ABS with brass tuning slides. I paid Elderly Instruments almost $100 for the two of them in 1983. I wouldn't part with them today for ten times that. 

Cheers!

Robert

On Oct 28, 2012, at 1:13 PM, Matthew Smart <matthewsmart@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Of course not but I still think its a decent example as the reeds and strings are in close proximity to the body
> 
> I'm not a guitar player but I do not know any good guitar player that plays a plastic body guitar correct me if I'm wrong. If they do it's a much harder, denser acrylic blend vs that abs cheap light stuff that will melt with light heat. Example Seydel makes a more dense plastic comb on the silver that is much better and dishwasher safe
> 
> But if that doesn't satisfy you then pick a nice flute or other woodwind instrument. Do they use cheap plastic? No
> 
> I would also submit that most harmonica customizers do not use stock combs unless fixing up the marine band stock or using the stock sp20 comb. I don't think they do this just because they look good. I can speak with decent authority here because I sell parts to many of them
> 
> Respectfully
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Oct 28, 2012, at 12:52 PM, Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
>> Mathew Smart writes:
>> 
>> "The big thing is the resonance and seal. A plastic comb doesn't resonate well imagine if a guitar was made from abs plastic. It would have no tone."
>> 
>> 
>> I've said this dozens of times before: harmonicas are not guitars.  There is essentially no similarity between how a harmonica produces sound and how a guitar does.  Comparing the construction of the two is pointless.  
>> 
>> As for the harmonica comb resonating--try this, remove the reed-plates and bang the comb against a hard surface.  Aside from metal combs you'll get a dull thud (metal combs will have a very slight, inharmonic tuning fork sound).  The thud may be a bit different if it's a wooden or plastic comb, but a thud nonetheless.  Not much resonating going on there.  Now, take two slabs of metal and clamp them over the same comb very securely with screws.  Bang this against a table.  Duller thud.  Do the same with a metal comb and you will now have no tuning fork action (logically, as the tines are now incapable of vibrating being securely clamped) and thus produce a dull thud.  The harmonica comb is essentially inert.
>> 
>> And, for the record, there have been plastic guitars (and ukuleles) which are rather successful.  I don't know how they relate to ABS plastic, but I doubt the basic characteristics were that different:
>> 
>> http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/PluckedStrings/Guitars/Maccaferri/10458/G40Guitar.html
>> 
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsyTV-7mLjU
>> 
>> Skip to 3:10 on this:
>> 
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4yw90ylF-4
>> 
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>> JR Ross
>