HarpMan Freeman
1 post
Aug 25, 2008
1:50 PM
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Did anyone go to SPAH in St. Louis and see Brad's production harmonica that he is going to start making available in Nov?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox_oBw2YKcw
http://www.harrisonharmonicas.com/index.php
If so, can you share what you thought about it?
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Chris Michalek
Guest
Aug 27, 2008
2:25 PM
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The harp was great. I played it during my set at jason Ricci's blowoff.
It felt really comfortable and solid in my hand. I liked the tone and response. This is going to be the "out of the box" harp to have when it's available.
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MR.LI
Guest
Sep 15, 2008
3:30 AM
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i AM INTERESTED IN SPEAKING WITH ANYONE WHO KNOWS WHERE I CAN GET A MACHINE THAT WILL MAKE REEDPLATES AND REEDS. I HAVE VERY RADICAL DESIGNS FOR HARMONICAS UNLIKE ANYTHING THAT HAS BEEN SEEN BEFORE. MY GOAL EVENTUALLY IS TO START MY OWN HARMONICA COMPANY IN AMERICA AND MAKE HARMONICAS AT A DRASTICALLY REDUCED PRICE FROM WHAT HOHNER AND THE REST OF MY COMPETITORS ARE SELLING. THE HARMONICAS WOULD EXCEED IN CRAFTSMANSHIP AND VALUE ANYTHING ON THE MARKET TODAY. WHEN I STARTED PLAYING, A DIATONIC WAS ONLY $1.50 AND A 16 HOLE CHROMATIC WAS ABOUT $20.00 ON SALE. I WANT TO BRING THOSE DAYS BACK AND I HAVE FOUND A WAY TO DO IT BUT I NEED TO FIND AND COST SOME MACHINERY FIRST,THE GOAL BEING TO MAKE AND SELL ENOUGH CUSTOM DESIGN HARMONICAS SO THAT I CAN BUY THE "SPECIAL" MACHINERY THAT WILL MAKE THE REEDPLATES AND REEDS AT A EFFECTIVE COST. I CAN BE REACHED AT 626-259-2000.REGARDS TO ALL,MR LI
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Jeff
153 posts
Sep 16, 2008
6:48 AM
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YOU CAN STOP SHOUTING! I KNOW THAT RANDY SANDOVAL AT GENESIS IS THE ONE WHO HOOKED BRAD UP WITH HIS PLATE CUTTING MACHINES!
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Genesis Harmonicas
Guest
Sep 16, 2008
9:21 PM
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Hi Mr Li,
I did help Brad with the design and contruction of the reed machine but the the machine that stamps the reeds is made by the JAM corp in Japan. It cost $3000 minus the dies which will have to be custom made. The reed machines that Lee Oskar and Suzuki use cost $200,000. In my opinion they are archaic. The profiles are cut by hand using a lathe compound toolholder. Brad is using a seperate tool profile for every single reed. You can see these machines on youtube search, "Lee Oskar factory tour".
Although we did get the thing built for under $3000 I think the smart way to cut reeds would be to slave the 3 axis table with servos and cnc control the cutter. This is the ONLY way to do it in my opinion. You would save tens of thousands of dollars in tooling. And tooling wears out.
One single $35 cutting tool and as many different profiles as your hard drive can hold. The machine itself was ridiculously simple. Take 1 vertical rotary table, bolt a lathe backing plate to it, have a machine shop mill a shoulder onto the wheel edge, mount to a massive cast iron plate and mount a 3 axis compound table in front of the machine. It is a bit more complicated than that but basically thats it. I would think the total cost for a state of the art CNC reed machine would be around $8000.
As a matter of fact, it would be the only CNC reed machine in the world as well as the most accurate. And you would not have to stand there all day turning handwheels hoping you didnt cut too deep. Randy
http://www.genesisharmonicas.net
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