So I finally got around to dropping the Hetrick Platinum Corian comb that I got from Jeff Silverman at this year's Hill Country Harmonica into my Suzuki Manji D major harp. I just can't believe the difference in the sound of the harp. It just sounds brighter than with the standard Manji comb. There are no weak spots at any hole. I'm sold.
Last Edited by on Oct 20, 2012 4:40 AM
1847, you are correct. But when there is no air leakage, I guess that's what I am so impressed with. I guess a little sanding of the original stock Manji combs might do the trick?
a couple of days ago i bought two of the evanswood corian combs for my silver plus. i am not expecting it to make my harp sound better or perform any better. the stock seydel comb is just fine. but they look to be a work of art i could not resist
an aftermaket comb would seem to work best on a leaky marine band or blues harp you could always just sand down and seal a stock comb.
but i am glad that there are several people offering so many choices doesn't hurt to give a little support
i'm biased because i only have Hetrick combs or stock combs i've worked over myself. I still really like an early Hetrick Maple comb i bought a couple of years ago. i prefer the dymonwood or wood woods but i do have a nice ebony composite. the Cobalt blue corian are really great looking, well made combs. ---------- MP affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info- repair videos on YouTube. you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
I got a couple of Hetrick combs 'while ago and love 'em. The fit and machining is superb, and the corian material seems to combine the best of woody tone and plastic permanence. He makes combs from other woods and materials also, which I haven't tried, but have seen one of his wood combs and again the machining is awesome. Hetrick also sells custom made chicago screws to hold everything together which work well, although I had to drill holes in my MB covers so I could replace the nails - which wasn't easy. The difficulty was because the nails were not in quite the right positions, so I had to drill off center of the nail holes. Even after pounding the nail hole protrusions flat, the offsets distorted the drill holes . In the end it all worked ok, but be warned the MB nails are not precisely positioned.
Last Edited by on Oct 22, 2012 7:23 AM
Check out the vids on drilling a MB on Hetrick's site. If you overdrill the hole a bit, you get some wiggle room even if they aren't dead center.
You can use a small hammer, a punch, or even a grinder to finish everything off. I debur the holes I drill and then grinded them from the back so they can sit flat. Usually, a flat punch to the nail holes in the back flatten them enough to sit flush. You could grind them too, though.
@HarpNinja, I ended up reaming the offset holes with a tiny rat tail file to widen them in the direction they should have been. I made a jig to hold the covers in position during the drilling. I have a drill press, so I thought I'd have the holes perfect, but the drill itself wandered toward the offset nail holes even tho' they'd been flattened. I cleaned off the burrs with a fine flat file. I'm going to make a more elaborate jig for next time, but I don't know what to do about the wandering drill bit. Maybe a different drill press like the one in the Hetrick video.
i broke out my harps that have the hetrick combs a special 20 with a mahogany comb and one with a black starshine all i can say is if you play a speacial 20 you owe it to yourself to try these combs
i have a maple lee oskar i never cared much for but after playing it last nite extensively i am growing quite fond of it the overblows on holes 4 5 and 6 jump right out i never got an overblow on a lee eskar before ever i am now eagerly awaiting my new evanswood silver plus comb... feel like a kid at christmas
any minute now the mail will arrive with my new evanswood hetrick comb
my weltmeister #2 will be transformed into the new model #3 it will have a new comb.. stainless steel reed plates and new 1847 coverplates....... any minute now a watched pot never boils lol
I echo the positive feedback for Hetrick combs. I asked Matthew Smart to make me a Corian version of the Suzuki Overdrive comb, which is slightly thinner than normal (about 5.5mm) with crisp edges to the tines, but with all the screw holes of the Manji.
We tweaked several batches of samples until I was happy and I made an order for 15 in black. Matthew gave them to me at SPAH. It was the first time we'd met and I was struck by his passion for what he does, and the harmonica in general.
The combs are beautiful, polished and re-polished to a super gloss finish. But more importantly, they sound sweet and play really well.
Last Edited by on Oct 25, 2012 6:15 PM
Here's a cool fact. Matthew is exactly one day older than me. ---------- David
____________________ At the time of his birth, it was widely accepted that no one man could play that much music so well or raise that much hell. He proved them all wrong. R.I.P. H. Cecil Payne
Here I am playing an Irish jig on my D Betaharp with a Hetrick Corian comb:
I find the Hetrick comb makes playing Irish tunes in 3rd position much more relaxing because I can forget about filling up with too much air before my next chance to breathe out through my nose on a blow note.
Last Edited by on Oct 28, 2012 7:50 AM
Last Edited by on Oct 26, 2012 11:50 AM