Re: [Harp-L] re:What Cover-Plates Don't Do

[MundHarp@xxxxxxx]

I am not saying the projected sound is different!   But it is  just that  I 
find it nicer to play a harmonica that vibrates MORE  rather than less when 
I play it, that is... with thinner cover plates... OK, I  don't think the 
AUDIENCE will hear any difference at all.  Also I like  metal combs on my 
harmonica, but again, the audience won't hear any  difference!  I simply like 
the Hohner Blues Harp cover plates, which  seem to vibrate MORE as I play... 
I have no idea about the actual thickness.. But I know Hohner's Blues  Harp 
cover plates are much thinner than Hohner's "Meisterklasse"  or  than the 
"Dannecker Blues" cover plates...
I find that as a harmonicist I PREFER a harp that vibrates MORE as I play  
it... The cover plates make a VAST diference... Not to the "timbre" but to 
the  joy of playing!
The sound produced will probably sound the same, whatever....
Just my 2c worth!
John "Whiteboy" Walden
Just now, shivering in a wintry Scotland.
 
 
In a message dated 1/17/2013 12:13:34 P.M. GMT Standard Time,  
jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:

John Walden  writes:

"I like Blues Harp MS cover plates... They are thin, and make  the 
harmonica  
feel ALIVE as I play it..."

Have you measured  them?  I have no MS-harps to measure, but I don't 
remember the  cover-plates of the MS-Blues Harp as being particularly thin at all. 
  

Of course, even if they were thinner than standard, it would have no  
effect on timbre.  

Mike writes:
"If I play a harp minus cover  plates it sounds different.  The timbre and 
volume are different than  when assembled.  "

I think careful listening and A/B testing would  indicate that you are 
wrong about the timbre.  Volume might be another  matter--at least as far as the 
player is concerned because of a directional  effect from the covers.  But 
timbre is unaffected for the reasons I  outlined.  It is very easy to hear a 
single change (volume) and then  assume other changes (timbre) as well.  
The ear is a great tool, but the  brain often fools itself in terms of how it 
processes that  information.



JR  Ross