Hollistonharper
46 posts
Mar 15, 2009
8:17 PM
|
This is encouragement for novices on tinkering with their harps. Have been playing for 15 months now, still consider myself a novice, especially when it comes to tinkering with the insides of my harps. On occasion I've volunteered my opinion that newbies should not open up their harps, they should just try to learn how to play. Well, there definitely comes a point when you should try it. Lately, I've been doing some gapping and having success loosening up stiff reeds. But this weekend, I sealed wood combs on 2 harps with food grade butcher block oil and applied micropore.
Let me tell you, the micropore is amazing. Both harps are substantially more tight and responsive now. And I can play them so quietly and still get full intonation and bends, to the best of my skill level. They are so tight now that the entire body vibrates in my hand when I blow a note. For what it's worth, one was a regular Marine Band in C and the other was a Hering Vintage 1923 in Bb. I'm a big Delta Frost fan because of their out of the box playability and responsiveness, but I'm not going to put down these "customized" harps for a good long while now.
Also, I don't have the finest of motor skills, so if I can do it, anyone can. If you've been thinking about trying it, go for it.
|
harmonicanick
185 posts
Mar 16, 2009
2:19 AM
|
Holliston,
What is micropore; is that a brand name; is there a generic available in Europe
thanks Nick
|
MrVerylongusername
193 posts
Mar 16, 2009
4:47 AM
|
Nick - it's that white surgical tape. You can get it at any pharmacists. Boots sell it.
|
harmonicanick
186 posts
Mar 16, 2009
6:05 AM
|
Thanks Mrv, now I just need to know what to do with it~?
|
MrVerylongusername
194 posts
Mar 16, 2009
6:12 AM
|
You can use it like a gasket, sealing the join between comb and plate or cut little squares to balance reeds and stop them squealing on OBs...
|
MrVerylongusername
195 posts
Mar 16, 2009
6:14 AM
|
I found a good link for you...
http://www.hunterharp.com/moyer1.html
|
Preston
198 posts
Mar 16, 2009
6:25 AM
|
Here's a link with pictures!
http://www.harmonicasessions.com/oct04/h-workbench.html
I actually tried to do this to one of my first special20s and it was a disaster. I tried cutting around the reed slots, but I still had trouble getting all the reeds to sound. I think I may have gotten it a little too airtight. I ended up just taking it all off. But maybe it's time to try again...
Last Edited by on Mar 16, 2009 6:26 AM
|
oldwailer
582 posts
Mar 16, 2009
9:43 AM
|
I wouldn't bother with it for every plastic comb harp--but it sure works for the leaky ones! I've made some Big Rivers real decent harps by doing it. . .
|
harpwrench
21 posts
Mar 16, 2009
9:48 AM
|
If you want to try it, it works better to stick the tape on the comb. It gets very nasty in short time, and the cut edges will collect debris.
Last Edited by on Jul 26, 2010 12:31 PM
|
isaacullah
88 posts
Mar 16, 2009
10:20 AM
|
I have to second what Harpwrench says.
When I first started down the road of harp customization, I thought Micropore would be my saviour. While it DID make a reasonable improvement for some of my leaky plastic combed harps, I found that down the line it started to cause more harm than good. Mainly, it is a paper based tape, and being such, it ABSORBS MOISTURE. Moreover, it takes a micropored harp a lot longer to dry out than a non micropored harp. This caused some major corosion to occur on my early micropored harps. Not only that, but the adhesive begins to "migrate" after a while, and on some of my micropored harps, it somehow got onto some of the reeds, causing them to stick and go silent. It was a HUGE pain to remove it, and I had to use some mineral spirts with heavy scrubing to get rid of all the gunk...
Since then I have found that sanding the comb (wood combs, most plastic combs are okay as is), sanding the back of the draw reedplate, and burnishing the top of the blow reedplate where it meets the comb to be MUCH more satisfactory, not to mention more permanent and much less messy. It's also easier to do (for me) than it was to cut out all those damn bits of micropore with a razor! Additionally, I have foound that almost all reedplates are "warped" when you take them off the harp and lay them down on a flat surface. A little "unbending" of these warped plates also seems to go a long way to improving the air tightness of a harp. And finally, I am an avid proponent of the "loose screw" approach. That is: I now only barely hand-tighten reedplate and coverplate screws. If you over tighten these screws, it forms a localized "cone of depression" that causes the reedplates to "buck up" a bit from the comb a small ways away from the overtightned screw. This causes leakyness, and so to avoid it, just barely tighten all screws. This, of course, assumes you have sanded/flattend the mating surfaces properly.
Cheers,
Isaac
----------
--------------
The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
Last Edited by on Mar 16, 2009 10:23 AM
|
Hollistonharper
47 posts
Mar 16, 2009
4:19 PM
|
Harpwrench and Isaac,
That's good information. I was thinking about the stickiness factor, and that's why I did not do this on a plastic comb. It's funny though, I sort of impatiently applied the micropore before the sealant I had applied to one of my wood combs had completely cured--I think it bonded to the wood comb and is impermeable. So now I have either advanced the science of micropore harpology or...have ruined a good comb. Time will tell!
|
145nE
17 posts
Apr 12, 2011
9:21 AM
|
Tim Moyer recommends Micropore on the reed plates, Richard Hunter recommends Micropore on the comb of the Lee Oskar, and Kinya Pollard recommends Micropore on all the combs. Does anyone know which is the best? What difference does it make?
|
MP
1598 posts
Apr 12, 2011
10:24 AM
|
Hollistonharper,
i did the same thing- putting on the micropore before my sealant dried.
you may or may not have problems in the future in useing micropore. i like to take harps apart and micropore sticks the plates to the comb so they have to be pried off. also, you can't loosely put plates on combs, -no play cuz it's sticky.
so i don't use it. you haven't ruined your harp. it plays really good right?
but, down the line you may need new combs. or not.
----------
MP
doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
|
hvyj
1356 posts
Apr 12, 2011
10:34 AM
|
Another use for Micropore: If you have a harp that sounds too bright or too raspy (like some do if they are embossed) you can put Micropore INSIDE THE COVERS and it will dampen the the tone so the tone is not as bright or "edgy." Micropore is waterproof so it tends to stay put, unlike, fr example, electrical tape.
But Micropore collects dirt. Not really a problem if it's on the inside of the covers, but, as harpwrench points out, if you put it on the comb or the reed plates it can get pretty nasty.
|
HarveyHarp
224 posts
Apr 12, 2011
11:02 AM
|
@ Isaacullah. Could you explain what you mean by "burnishing the top of the blow reedplate where it meets the comb.
In my opinion, what most of us do that we call embossing is actually burnishing. But I have no idea what you are referring to in your statement.
Thanks
----------
|
chromaticblues
777 posts
Apr 12, 2011
11:37 AM
|
@ Holliston Harper I would try to find something else to use. I've worked on some harps where other people thought that was good idea also (and yes I know some customizers use it) and it was a discusting mess inside the harp! Just some friendly advice.
I would keep looking.
|
Todd Parrott
463 posts
Apr 12, 2011
11:49 AM
|
Since this thread is 2 years old, are you still even using micropore? How has it held up over the last 2 years?
|
Hollistonharper
226 posts
Apr 12, 2011
7:18 PM
|
@Kevin & MP--I don't do any work on my harps any more other than some minor gapping. As both of you know, I send my harps out for service now. Really happy with your work.
Doing a little work myself was good experience for learning a bit about the mechanics of the harp, but since I don't have much free time in my life, I decided I'd much rather spend that free time learning to play the harp rather than work on them. Besides, I wasn't very good at it....
@Todd--I eventually destroyed the Hering trying to do more mod's to it. I blew out a reed on the MB before it got too gummed up, and then used it as practice for harp modding skills. So can't really report on how they held up. However, after that 2009 post I used micropore on a very leaky Special20--plastic comb!--key of A, and that one played really well with the micropore. It's actually held up well, although I don't play it too often. Q6uhr
|
