[Harp-L] Oil for wooden covers

[Vern]

> On Jan 2, 2018, at 1:41 PM, David McCurry <david.mccurry at xxxxx> wrote:
> 
> ?..Additional oiling will also make the wood more dense and
> deaden the transmission of sound vibrations to some small degree.

The covers, held in your soft, fleshy, sound-deadening hands and lips, play no part in generating or transmitting the sound. The shape of the cavity under the covers could conceivably have some minuscule effect but oil won?t change that. Oil will not affect what you hear. Use whatever looks and smells good. 

> That?s one of the reasons guitars and other tone-wood sound box instruments
> (xylophones and pianos included) either have no finish, or a hard, brittle
> finish like lacquer or shellac.

Harmonicas are not ?sound box? instruments.  

> Personally, I don't think it would make a
> whole lot of difference.

You are right.

Vern