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beginner forum: for novice and developing blues harp players >
Workrooms
Workrooms
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SuperBee
4377 posts
Dec 23, 2016
3:35 PM
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I dunno how many have their own space to work in.
I have a 10'x10' room for my stuff, but I tend to use the kitchen table a lot for ad hoc jobs.
The workroom gets used for jobs like building amps where the stuff is potentially dangerous or obnoxious.
In September I was given a quantity of malt extract and decided to turn it into beer. It'd been years since I had brewed; I brewed a lot of beer between 93 and 2000 and had quite good quality, so I wanted to live up to my prior standards. This required me to do a lot of reading and as usual I found it occupying a lot of my attention. Before I knew what was happening, my workroom was full of barrels, bottles, hoses, thermometers, grain etc, all jostling the amplifiers and harps and associated tools for space on my shelves and work bench. The guitars and the piano sat quietly stoic in their respective corners with the computer desk holding down its space along the back wall between them.
Well, beer just takes time. Yesterday I bottled the stout and that makes 100 750ml bottles I can move to the 'cellar'. Given my consumption rate I won't need to brew again for over a year. So it's time to close the brewery and take back the space.
The band has been occupying some space too. Mainly in my mind but also in the need to keep my gear serviceable. Broken leads have been mended this week.
I remember when I bought my first 'vintage' mic, I was confused by that screw-on connection. I'd never seen one. No one in any music store in town had seen one. Greg Heumann helped me out and put me onto some suppliers and that was good.
Not sure how many here use these sort of connections? They are good in that they make a secure connection but they have an internal weakness at the screw on end. If the cable swivels inside the housing, the wire will break. The key is in securing the cable inside the strain relief spring. If that gets loose, the cable will soon fail. Over time they will move.
I had 2 cables built by a well-known mic builder. Those cables broke very quickly. I repaired them 3 times each. The 3rd time I was getting it worked out and those repairs lasted a long time. Long enough for me to forget about what I did. So when they finally broke again it was back to scratch. I just repaired them again this week. I think I got it right this time.
And harps: for me, the way I play and keys I play, if I'm playing in a band I do need to maintain the harps. If I'm not gigging, my harps very rarely need work, but a few loud gigs and they need attention.
When I started repairing other people's harps I was not gigging. My band had folded and I was totally over it. Repairs were a good way to stay interested in harps and involved in the community. But now I'm playing again I'm finding repairs are an irritant. I have clients though so I really need to do it. So I am glad to have my workspace back for that.
And I have a couple other projects I want to get onto; but it's summer and I don't want to be sitting inside at a computer all day, when I'm not doing repairs and practicing repertoire.
Anyway, I'm glad I renovated that little room. I really wouldn't manage this stuff without that little space.
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Fil
238 posts
Dec 23, 2016
4:53 PM
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I've found it important to have my own space for my harp stuff. I don't do repairs or amp builds, but having space in which I can just leave it all set up and escape to when I want to harp has been good. Right now it's a back bedroom that's only rarely used. I can wail, endlessly repeat a one or two bar piece of a solo, write in quiet, try to grasp some theory, whatever. If we follow thru on plans for an addition, I may have a dedicated space designed in. Soundproofed, room for a few friends to play.
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Phil Pennington
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SuperBee
4378 posts
Dec 23, 2016
6:47 PM
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Soundproofed is a great idea.
My friend has such a room.
I don't and it's very inhibiting. My daughter sleeps in the room on the other side of the wall. There's a full-length built-in wardrobe on her side of the wall but the sound still gets through.
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dchurch
86 posts
Dec 26, 2016
3:10 PM
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I was hoping this thread would continue with some more work space ideas.
The music room sounds very cool, but it’s not something we have in our house.
I have one old standing cabinet in the house for harmonicas. It’s big enough to keep my small amp and a growing collection of harps. A converted clarinet case holds my favorite harps and a small tool kit. The kit includes tools and a few backup reed plates and a bunch of reeds. I sometimes use the tool kit at a table in the house for light work. I’ll even set up a rotary tool drill press here sometimes. But most of my extensive work is done out in the shop (where I can crank up the music and make a racket…)
I don’t have a place to practice in the house. Sound proofing a room would be an option but I’ve been pretty cool with playing out in my shop.
The shop is set up for multiple uses; carpentry, electronics, metal work… I have a modest space dedicated to harmonica work. The space catches all my donors, spare parts, failed experiments and harps that need work. The harp work space is adjacent to the electronics bench. I do a little amp, mic and effects circuit work.
I play a lot of harp, trumpet, and jaw harp in the shop. It has a decent sound system and pretty good acoustics. There is a loft above the shop where I occasionally play and record. Most of the recording is in the form of digitizing old 45’s and LP’s.
We don’t have neighbors so outdoor practice works well on a deck or around the pond... Another good spot is in my pickup. Sometimes I just park somewhere and woodshed in the cab. The truck is pretty comfortable and has a great sound system.
Cars have always been a music room for me. My first install was an 8-track for my ’65 Mustang. It was the coolest thing ever to be able to choose your own music in the car! Now between Sirius radio and portable memory… music selection seems infinite and the player can slow down music and repeat passages…
I do play in the house a little. ***One of the many things I have gained from this forum was from someone’s comment about the ability to play well quietly. A very soft touch was something I expected from my trumpet but I hadn’t seriously worked at with the harp. Now I sometimes practice at whisper levels while the household sleeps. I think it has been good for me and it’s a good test for my harps.
SuperBee, I’m not sure about your specific connection but I’ve used potting compound in some situations. People were causing problems by yarding equipment around by the cables:/ So I started potting the internals.
For those that don’t know, there are silicon compounds and epoxies that are made specifically for such use. Don’t use common silicon calking because it will cause corrosion. You basically screw or solder the connection then fill or apply the nonconductive compound. Potting can make electronics bomb proof. But, it’s not always smart because it can make future work more difficult. You can cut and peel off the silicon with some effort. Epoxy can be loosened away but it takes some pretty high heat. You can find “potting compounds” at online electronics sites like Digikey or Mouser.
I hope everyone is having a great holiday season.
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It's about time I got around to this.
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Killa_Hertz
2033 posts
Dec 26, 2016
7:06 PM
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I have a room in my house dedicated to my music stuff. All my harps, mics, amps, LPs, Stereo, Keyboard, Guitars (that i can't play), etc.
I dont have kids, so i can go in there and let it hang out.
But in the last house, i couldn't do this, so i often used my Vox DA5 and headphones to play amplified. And I actually perfected my hand cup technique by cupping the harp to mute it when playing late at night. I soon realised that it was perfect for wah wahs .. lol.
I have a workshop in the basement. Where i do all my Mad Experiments. 8^)
I do alot of woodshedding in the car aswell, but I do think playing in the house is much more advantageous. Or atleast playing while NOT driving .... lol.
Something Snowman said to me awhile ago .. something to the effect of "playing in the car is not focused practice. Focused practice will take you much farther." I can't tell you how true that is. Atleast IMO. But at the time ... car playing was all i had, so it was better than nothing. He meant "while driving" ofcourse. If you park up in the parking lot and jam, thats different.
I think my playing skill has nearly doubled since moving and being able to play all over the house. I get 10x as much more play time in.
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