Brendan Power
315 posts
Dec 24, 2012
12:34 PM
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Most harmonica players know Rick Epping as the inventor of the XB-40. However, far fewer know that he was the man who first thought up and developed the process we now call Reed-slot Embossing, or simply Embossing (Rick originally called it Burnishing).
Later popularised by the likes of Joe Filisko, Richard Sleigh and others, Embossing is now a widespread technique that most serious harmonica players have learned to apply to their own harps. Here is Rick's own story of how it all began...
http://www.brendan-power.com/images/HW%20Dec%20Jan%2013_Rick.pdf
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1847
431 posts
Dec 24, 2012
12:55 PM
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brendan do you have a gig here in so.cal next month?
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tmf714
1414 posts
Dec 24, 2012
1:31 PM
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From Steve Baker via a Harp-l post-
Fri Jan 29, 2010 4:50 pm |
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Steve Baker wrote:
"To the best of my knowledge, the pioneers of reed slot embossing are
Joe Filisko and Rick Epping."
I learned it from Dick Gardner who at the time was using the ball end
of a tuning fork. He called it his magic wand. To my knowledge Dick
was doing it before Filisko. I don't know about Epping. It's possible
Dick learned it from Rick.
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HarveyHarp
433 posts
Dec 24, 2012
1:42 PM
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In my opoinion, Rick was correct in calling it Burnishing.
Years ago, I was looking for a new embossing tool to make full slot embossing easier, and I called a Dentist friend of mine, who actually was my bass player in a previous band, and told him what I wanted to do, and he informed me that the procedure that I described was burnishing, and that dentists used burnishing tools. So, I went and looked at all his tools, and none of them were exactly what I was looking for, but in searching the internet for the correct burnishing tool, I found the one that I am using today. Its all in the definition.
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HarveyHarp
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Tuckster
1229 posts
Dec 24, 2012
1:56 PM
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Yep,jewelers call it burnishing too. Their burnishers are a little too big for harp slots. I've used a piece of polished agate and it works really well also.
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Frank
1709 posts
Dec 24, 2012
2:40 PM
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I suppose Rick and those guys use the UST now a lot for sizing slots...Who is selling the UST in the USA and what's the going price, anyone know? Thanks!
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