some of you may remember my first review of hetrick combs. in short, i refered to them as raw material. anyway, since then i have experience w/ a couple more hetrick combs and i'd like to share my impressions.
originally, i had expected one could simply buy one of these combs, switch out the old, and viola! we are done here. this is simply not the case. i'll proceed to point out the drawbacks and also the good points.
first, the good points. 1) they are inexpensive. 2) they are handsome 3) they are available in several fine woods including bamboo ( i have no idea why they discontinued maple and cherry) hetrick claims it is because they warp, but i have one of each and they are fine. ---------- 4) if you are big on composites they have a dizzying array of dymondwood combs. (to me, the idea is to get rid of the plastic comb so i don't see why anyone would go for synthetics.)
drawbacks.
like i said, you'd be awfully lucky if all you had to do was switch combs; let me explain why.
1)the hetrick SP/20 comb rarely fits just right. the teeth stick out and need to be sanded down. say goodbye to your finish. you'll need laquer bro. the holes are drilled too small so there is little play for adjusting. this is a pain! 2) the coverplates don't sit flush. bigger pain! you need a hand seamer, patience, and /or micropore tape to fill the gap betwixt the covers and reedplates,( this is not a problem on the GMs since they have a coverplate groove.)
my maple was flat but the cherry i got for my GM has daylight showing through between the bottom reedplate and comb. so, the comb needed to be flat sanded. and sealed again. this defeats the purpose of a sealed comb.
chromaticblues sands every comb he gets from hetrick. i don't know if he's found another vendor but i'll bet he's sick of sanding a supposedly 'finished' product.
the edges of mine all had splinters i sanded down. i did get a chipped lacewood comb i threw away. these are discontinued. they were grainy fragile shite.
a dymondwood walnut SP/20 comb i did for groyster was a nightmare. not flat at all and nothing fit. imitation walnut looks imitation to boot.
anyway, these are things to keep in mind when buying a cheaper comb. since i don't mind tinkering to save money i can avoid paying out lots of moolah for a comb made to more exacting standards. caveat emptor!
hope this helps.
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
they claim warping is why they discontinued these woods. but if they are sealed right after cutting, how is this possible? a comb doesn't have to be warped to leak. it is fairly precise how flat a comb and plate must be to match up correctly.:) oh well. ----------
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
I had a few Hetrick Combs...I disliked the finish, the combs were good, but didnt look great..had a few from other vendors that looked great! for the Hetrick combs i had some work to do, cos they did swell ( of course this was quite some time back not sure about the quality now) after using a lacquer on the surface
1) I flat sanded them taking out most of the finish but taking care not to expose the wood.. 2) rounded the corners on the tines. 3) sealed the tines using clear nail paint 4) after sanding the edges with 1200 grit paper, I used carnauba wax ( antiquax) to polish them .they look great and smooth but a lot of work!
I hear good things about Randy Sandoval's combs too. If Dave Payne is back up and running his chestnut combs those are real nice. And the couple people who had tried the combs Hetrick claimed were poisonous had good (and still alive sounding) comments about them. And from my brief interaction with each of the alternatives on the list I think I can say they are all nice guys. I have a Payne and a Reynolds comb. The others are on my 'want to try' list.
Chris Reynolds and Randy Sandoval both make incredible combs and are both really nice guys to do business with. For whatever it's worth, all of my Spiers harps are on either Randy's or Chris' combs.
I'm sure there are probably other good comb makers out there like Mark Lavoie, Dick Sjoeberg, etc., but I can only speak from experience about Randy and Chris.
I've been very satisfied with their work, and you can't beat the color combinations and materials that they offer. Between the two of them you'll definitely have plenty of options. And if you ever want a comb made out of something that's not on Chris' site (like bamboo), just ask. He made me a bamboo GM comb, but I still prefer the other materials and colors. To me, the bamboo color is boring... but that's just me.
Tom Halchak makes top shelf combs available in several fine woods & Acrylic at very reasonable prices,.Check him out : http://cgi.ebay.com/190549953008?
@ HarveyHarp,. Yes Tom's combs are available in exotic hardwoods, acrylic and aluminum. You can't go wrong with a guy who says: 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed. I want to make it absolutely clear that I stand behind all of my products. If, for any reason, you are not 100% completely satisfied with your purchase I will refund your purchase price and your shipping cost. ---------- Simply Unique Kustom Mic's By Rharley
Same here... I have gotten at least a dozen different combs for all of my Special 20's from Hetrick and they all work to perfection. From Dymondwoods, special woods, and even various acrylics... not a bit of trouble. In addition, Hetrick has changed out my combs on various L0's for me as well as several Golden Melodys.
i think hetrick has a $21 deal right now. if so, that is really good price.
to be fair. what i forgot to mention is the couple harps i've outfitted with hetrick combs are favorites of mine. john gidnick also praises these combs.
you simply cannot beat the price. i would suggest looking at hetricks video on installing them. he got a lot a negative reports on the SP/20 combs not fitting so he made a vid. ----------
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
I got in a few new Halchak combs yesterday, and they were beautiful. I got a few Golden Melody Combs, both in Acrylic, and Different types of wood, and they bolted right up. My Hetrick combs bolt up nicely to GMs also, but I think I like the finish on the Halchak combs better. Now here comes the stuff: I have resisted buying combs for Special 20s, because of the location slot for the cover plates situation. I do not want to use micropore tape, Period. However, I tried a couple of Halchak Special 20 combs, one in Acrylic, and one in Wood, and like all the other ones, I had the leak at the front of the cover plates. So, what I did was take a thin Dremel cut off wheel, mount it in the Dremel, in their drill press accessory, and drop it almost all the way to the bass,leaving just a fraction of an inch space and then I ran the reedplates across the cutoff wheel a couple of light times, and voils, I had a slot in my special 20 plates. Then the coverplates fit perfectly, just like in a MB and GM, and all the rest of the Tin Sandwich Harps. I have not customized them yet, but I would suspect that they going to play just like a Marine Band, of course with Special 20 cover plates.
I have 6 Hetrick combs for some MB Deluxe Harps in Cherry Dymonwood and I think theyre very sweet. The only change i made to them was rounding off the edges as they were pretty pointy and dug into the webbing of my hand but that was a 5 minute fix!
Randy makes awesome combs and his custom harps kick ass. I currently have some low tuned harps on order with him and have requested Grade A African Blackwood Combs. So when theyre in my hands ill be sure to post some images up for all to see.
after reading what Harvey wrote about forming grooves in SP/20 reed plates i thought of oldwailers 'bosser' 'old bossy' embossing machine.
too much time on my hands? i know, right?:0)
anyway, i doubt there would be much call for it but i'm thinking of a similar machine for making grooves in SPs would be purty cool.
you know, since the early 70s i just slapped a key sticker on my harps and played them into the ground. gigged a lot. they 80s was a great time for harp players. i burned harps like mad.
nowadays i take serious care of them and i like em to look good too regardless of whether or not the tone is better with a custom comb. some folks think so, some folks don't.
anyway, just looked at the hetrick site and saw multi-colored combs worthy of todd parrotts interest. ----------
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
I use a rattail file and elongate the coverplate holes. Making the holes longer toward the front of the coverplate. It only needs about 1mm more room. Don't get carried away with making the hole to big because then you'll be able to see it after its assembled. I don't use the original bolts either. The heads of the bolts I use are a little bigger (which its it possible to do this. I purposly do not put a groove in the reedplate because after lightly sanding the front of both reedplates with 400 and 600 grit sand paper it comes out nice and smooth. Very comfortable to play WITHOUT AIR LEAKAGE!
Been doing this for about a year now with this machine I built. Has a digital caliper for monitoring the slot depth, and a tenth indicator to tram the x travel perfectly. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000094821748#!/photo.php?fbid=241094799237012&set=a.100885899924570.2041.100000094821748&type=1&theater
Another shot showing detail of how the edge is clamped without touched the reeds on the draw plate. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000094821748#!/photo.php?fbid=241094622570363&set=a.100885899924570.2041.100000094821748&type=1&theater
I was doing the same thing with one of Richard Sleighs draw scarpers but was wearing it out. After sharpening it quite a few times, its gotten rather thin. But Richards scraper is the best thing since sliced bread. Wish I could get the kind of keen edge on it like when it was new. (hint?)Before that I was using dial calipers. I would hook one of the jaws over the edge of the plate and drag it down the plate. This would get a pretty good groove stated then I would cut it deeper with a pointed file. After a few slips ruining some reeds I thought there has to be a better way. I had the linear rails saved for another project but sacrificed them for this. I dress the angle of the cutoff disk with a diamond file so its not to wide.
Harpwrench, by (Hint) I meant, do you have any tips on sharpening the draws scraper? mine always leaves fine lines on the reed after sharpening. When it was new the brass came off in thin ribbons.
I bring back a dulled edge with 600 grit paper then dress it with 1200. I just cut a little square off the sandpaper and use a utility knife blade as a flat backing surface. The Arkansas stone method didn't work out for me. I try to inspect the edge with a loupe daily and just keep it sharp with the 1200. Avoid hitting the rivets too:) But yeah it was at its sharpest when new. The angle has a lot to do with it, if you change that by sharpening then it doesn't work as well...I made a large draw scraper from a drill bit shank cause I figured it would be harder stuff, and I think it is. I save the Sleigh strictly for tuning.
@ groyster did you sand it flat on both sides first? You can't expect it to be perfectly flat. Its wood! I sand them flat and put the harp together right away. Msybe if you do it that way you'll have better luck?
I have two GMs with a Hetrick comb. They are both great. Of course I didn't allow my fumble fingers to screw things up and had Matthew install them, set the gaps and such.
They are two of my favorite harps.
Greg ----------
Just when I got a paddle, they added more water to the creek.
