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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Options for a Broken Wooden Comb?
Options for a Broken Wooden Comb?
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AlexArkansas
10 posts
Aug 09, 2012
4:32 PM
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I was rummaging around today and found an old Blues Harp I'd forgotten about. The right edge of the comb is broken completely off, but still fits into the other edge such that the ten hole (the only broken reed slot) sounds when they're pressed together. Kinda hard to explain, but I hope you get the idea. Anyway, what would be the downside of just wood gluing this back together? And if that isn't tenable, what could I do with the reedplates and coverplates (ie, what harps are they swappable with)?
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nacoran
6049 posts
Aug 09, 2012
6:03 PM
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I suspect you could use wood glue as long as you were supper careful to keep everything flat and even. How old is old? If it's a MS series Blues Harp (it should say on the cover) it will swap with any other MS series harp I think. The other option is to get a replacement comb. You can get some pretty slick looking combs.
The MS harps are Blues Harp, Pro Harp, Blue Midnight and Meisterklasse harps. (Of course there are older ones floating around from before the MS series standardized things. There was also a short lived Marine Band MS series harp.)
If you decide to get a custom comb there are a lot of good vendors with some neat choices:
Tom Halchack (Blue Moon Harmonicas)
Randy Sandoval (Genesis Harmonicas)
Chris Reynolds (Builder of Stuff)
Hetrick
I don't know if David Payne does any Hohner combs or not, but he does make nice combs.
David Payne (Elk River Harmonicas)
Tom, Randy, Chris and Dave are all forum members here, although Tom and Dave post more often. I've got combs from Chris and Dave and they both make great combs. I've heard the same about all of them. (I'm planning on getting some from Tom and Randy in the real near future.)
I'm probably forgetting someone too. Custom combs start at about $15 bucks and run up to about $30 I think. They really are an improvement over stock combs. They look nice, they form a better air seal, and they help you tell your harmonicas apart when it's too dark to see the labels.
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isaacullah
2114 posts
Aug 10, 2012
7:08 AM
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I've glued plenty of broken combs back together. Use a good wood glue, and make sure you've got the correct clamping pressure and angles to keep the joint tight, flat, and plumb. It's no different than any other type of fine wood joinery.
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Last Edited by on Aug 10, 2012 7:10 AM
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arzajac
837 posts
Aug 10, 2012
10:23 AM
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I can restore it for you for $15 plus shipping. It will be in better-than-new condition, in-tune and ready to play.
Is it an old Blues Harp or is it an MS type Blues Harp? If it's the old type, check how many nails there are in between the tines of the draw side (the side where you see the reeds). Two nails dates the harp to a period when quality was not so good. I wouldn't spend much time or money on such a harp, to be honest, but anything else will probably result in a harp you will really enjoy.
If you would rather do it yourself, yes, the comb can be crazy-glued. I glue them then flat sand and seal the comb. I replace the nails with screws in that type of harp.
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Last Edited by on Aug 10, 2012 10:25 AM
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