Morrel
5 posts
Aug 08, 2011
9:08 PM
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Question : On a new harp, do I have to play soft in the beginning to break in the reeds? How long?
Yesterday my Custom Special 20 arrived.It's my first 'real' harp.
What a differece with those Bluesbands!
I was so surprised that every hole made such a nice even sound!
I'm actually glad I started with cheap ones, the sudden change gave me a big boost in my beginners morale.
I still can't find the Marine Bands that Mr.Gussow uses.
(with the nails). I suppose those are replaced by the "Marine Band Classic".
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jonlaing
313 posts
Aug 08, 2011
9:22 PM
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First off, the Marine Band can be found here.
Second, it's my personal opinion that harps don't need to be "broken in." You may just be struggling with the fact that the nicer the harp, the likely more airtight it is going to be. Just try to roll with it and remember to breathe from your diaphragm, and not your mouth.
Then again, I've never really played Sp20's, so that might be a quirk of that particular model, but I doubt it.
Good luck.
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Reed Triller
3 posts
Aug 08, 2011
10:04 PM
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Not necessarily but well set up harps do require less breath in general and less tongue movement for bends,etc.
I always start out with the lightest breath and work my way up until the harp has a good volume to gauge just how much breath it needs.
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Bend it like Ricci - Me
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nacoran
4433 posts
Aug 08, 2011
10:40 PM
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Special 20's are nice harps! You might be being fooled by the Marine Band classics though. The nail heads look like screws. (They fooled me. I tried in vain to unscrew one to put a new comb on it!)
Hohner seems to use the Marine Band name a lot.
Marine Bands
Historic Marine Bands (Pat Missin)
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Nate
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KingoBad
818 posts
Aug 09, 2011
4:58 AM
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You must be in shock going from a bluesband! You don't need to break it in, but to save your new harp, play softly! You will blow it out quickly with the force you used to play the bluesband.
Greater volume is going to come with greater resonance, not just playing harder. You will be able to learn the limits as you get better while preserving your expensive harp. So take it easy on the harp - but also don't play like a wuss.
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Danny
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hvyj
1651 posts
Aug 09, 2011
6:40 AM
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It's not so much how hard you blow/draw but HOW you create the air pressure. If you create all air flow from your diaphragm with an open airway and relaxed oral resonance chamber you can actually play pretty hard without unduly stressing the harp.
Now, I'm not necessarily suggesting that you go out of your way to play hard. But, IMHO, technique is more critical than how hard or soft your airflow is.
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Morrel
6 posts
Aug 09, 2011
7:59 AM
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Thanks for the tips.
It playes very nice, what I ment was something I read, saying that the reeds break faster if you don't play soft at first. I just wasn't sure if I could do bends on a new harp without damaging it.
Today I went to the closest music shop (some 30 miles or so) The store was selling everything on discount becouse they where quiting, The harps where sold out.
But... I came out with a guitar under my arm :)
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Tommy the Hat
186 posts
Aug 09, 2011
1:16 PM
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The Hohners come with some instructions and such and they say to play easy for the first couple of weeks to break the harmonica in and not damage the reeds. Something to that effect. "care of your new harmonica" or something.
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Tommy
Bronx Mojo
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