[Harp-L] Brendan and Vern

[Tom Halchak]

Here are a few random thoughts about some of the lively debates that have
transpired on harp-l in the past few days.

To Brendan Power – THANK YOU for blowing the lid off the ill-fated comb
experiment at SPAH 2010.  Thank you for being the Mad Scientist Innovator
that you are.  In the past few years, you have single-handedly come up with
more new ideas for the harmonica than everyone else on the planet
combined.

Whereas Vern practices pseudoscience, arguing that bumblebees can’t fly,
comb material has no affect on tone and precision reed work yields no
measurable effect on response, and Brendan practices Voodoo Witchcraft to
conjure up radical concepts, I operate in the Real World.

In the Real World, The Market is genius.   In the Real World, people vote
with their wallets.

I started making Custom Harmonica Combs just over 8 years ago and Custom
Harmonicas about 5 years ago.  I did not invent custom combs and then set
out to convince harmonica players that they needed them.  Quite the
opposite.  Eleven years ago, when I first discovered the hallowed pages of
harp-l, I noticed that harmonica players have an insatiable appetite for
custom combs and that nobody at that time was doing a particularly good job
meeting that demand.   Back then, custom combs were made to order, took
months to get and often the quality was suspect.  I saw an opportunity.  I
had a novel concept.  How about if I make them first, using
state-of-the-art technology, and THEN offer them for sale?  I started
offering them on eBay and was immediately swarmed by harmonica players all
over the world.  It quickly became a collaborative effort with harmonica
enthusiasts providing valuable feedback about how to improve the quality,
which brands/models to make and which materials to offer.  All I did was
listen to them and give them what they wanted.  It was and still is, more
them convincing me to meet their demands than me convincing them to buy my
products.  All my combs are CNC Machined and I make them out of Exotic
Hardwoods, Corian, Acrylic, Aircraft Grade Aluminum, Brass and Phenolic
Resins.  I have also tried many other materials which proved impractical
for one reason or another.  In the past 8 years, I have sold thousands upon
thousands of custom combs.  Thousands.  The pattern is always the same.  A
customer will try one or two combs to see what all the fuss is about.
After installing the combs on their harps, amazed by the improvement, they
immediately order more.  They’re like Lays Potato Chips – nobody can eat
just one.  The same is true for custom harps, built on my custom combs and
using the tried and true reedsmithing principles that have become the
staple of harmonica customizers around the world.

And so, my evidence is not scientific, and it is not theoretical.  It is
Real World, where the rubber meets the road, where people spend their
hard-earned money.  I have had thousands of conversations with harmonica
enthusiasts all over the world - both amateur and professional.  Her is
what they tell me, over and over again.

1.       Custom combs make a positive difference.

2.       Comb Material affects the tone of the harmonica.

3.       Custom Harmonicas play better than stock harmonicas.

It is as simple as that.  Unless we are to believe that thousands of
harmonica players are suffering from some form of mass delusion, I would
submit to you that the feedback I have received from my customer base is
the largest body of data dealing with this subject.

Please understand that I don’t want this to be a big commercial for Blue
Moon Harmonicas.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on the
forums, Facebook, etc.  Almost all of it is hearsay.  Somebody who didn’t
know what they were talking about wrote something and others picked up it
and started repeating it and pretty soon it became settled science.  I’m
just giving you information based upon real experience.  I’ve lived it.

Shifting gears, someone asked about using laser or other modern
technologies to cut precision components.  Trust me when I tell you that I
have researched every possible technology for making reed plates including
CNC Milling, Laser, Wire EDM, Water Jet and Acid Etching.  There is an
inherent problem with all of them and that is that the cutting tool is
round and cannot cut a perfectly square inside right angle.  There will
always be a radius to the cut.  A CNC End Mill is round. A Laser Beam is
round.  A Wire is round.  A Water Jet is Round.  You cannot cut a square
inside corner using a round tool.  In addition, Lasers, Water Jet and Acid
Etching all lose power as they cut through material.  It limits the
thickness of the material you can accurately cut.  A laser beam will
decrease in strength, diameter and cutting power as it cuts through metal,
meaning that the resulting slot cut in a plate is wider at the top where
the beam is strongest and narrower at the bottom where the beam is weaker
and smaller in diameter.  In addition, the cut is jagged.  It is not this
smooth flawless cut that we imagine.  Harrison Harmonicas used Wire EDM to
cut their reed plates.  Under magnification, the insides of the slots look
like serrated knives and the tips of the reeds have to be dog eared to
avoid snagging on the radiused corners of the slots.

The reality that the best method of making reed plates is Fine Metal
Blanking – not stamping as many people believe. Stamping leaves a burr on
the back side of the cut, which then requires an additional step to
remove.  Fine Metal Blanking cuts from both sides of the metal
simultaneously leaving no burr.  The plate that comes off the cutting table
is a finished product requiring no additional work.  Every custom harmonica
player would love to make harmonicas that are 100% own brand.  We can make
combs and covers, but reed plates are the Holy Grail.  It is cost
prohibitive.  The Fine Metal Blanking stamps necessary to make a reed plate
cost about $50,000 each to make and then you have to deal with making 80+
different reeds, then paying people to mount them on reed plates, then
tune, etc. etc. etc.  It is far better and more economical to just buy the
reed plates from your manufacturer of choice and work your magic to improve
them.  It really is a moot point.  Trust me on this.

Thanks again to Brendan and Vern for keeping us entertained.

*Tom Halchak*
*Blue Moon Harmonicas LLC*
*P.O. Box 14401 Clearwater, FL 33766*
*(727) 366-2608*