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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Someone could make this-
Someone could make this-
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nacoran
7044 posts
Aug 19, 2013
11:31 PM
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There are some refinements not shown in the video. I'm too lazy to edit the audio. I suspect if you were ordering combs like these, to get one of the customizers to do a batch you'd have to do bulk, but it's not hard to do. The things to remember is that magnets are fragile. He can't run a pin through them that will have torque on them, but that's easy to get around. The best version involves a couple holes in the reed plate too. That's what's kept me from just ordering a batch of combs and setting them up for this. I've got lot's of little insights about it, if anyone wants to give it a shot. Anyway, one of my not as crazy harp inventions, Bird Lids, because you can just flip 'em off-
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Nate
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bluemoose
914 posts
Aug 20, 2013
10:00 AM
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Interesting...would you have to avoid carrying a Bird Lid harp in the same pocket as your credit cards?
Would there be any interference with a microphone having potentially moving magnets in close proximity?
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nacoran
7045 posts
Aug 20, 2013
10:44 AM
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Lol. I'm not sure about the credit cards. They are fairly small magnets, but I always keep my wallet in my back pocket and my harps in front and side pockets.
No problem with microphones. Magnets lose their effective strength very quickly relative to distance. There are already magnetic harp products on the market. Turboharp has the Turboslide, which uses magnets on the steel reeds, but the magnets have to be very close, and the Harplock harmonica to mic stand holder is a stronger magnet. I haven't tested it with two harps in the same pocket since I only have the one prototype.
The 0178 magnet from Supermagnetman would work really well if you glued it carefully into a CNC cut comb. The little disk magnets you get at the hardware store work well on plastic combs. If people are interested, I can list the info on where I got the different parts I experimented with. I wish I had a CNC. Someone who already makes combs, or at least has a drill press and/or a dremel can convert the combs for less than $2.
I'd talked to Tom about it, and Arzajac, but neither of them wanted to run with it, and a couple other mad scientist types on the forum. (I also talked to the nice people over at Turboharp, since when it comes to harmonicas, they are the magnet experts, and the only cover on the market with similar snap on function is their Turbolids. They were very helpful. Just telling me to keep it simple helped so much. I went from a really expensive complicated, welding model to a cheap conversion.) I showed it, unofficially to Seydel too, but no one wanted to develop it. I'm more interested in tinkering than mass producing, so anyone who wants to run with it is welcome to. If anyone goes into mass production, and say, a couple pretty combs were to fall off the back of the truck towards me, I wouldn't say no, but basically, I'm releasing it into the wild to see if anyone can improve it or market it.
You do have to be careful taking the bottom cover off, since the cover can slide a bit and snag a reed. I haven't done any damage that way, and I have a solution for that- drill a couple screw holes and put raised head screws in, to serve as a stop. I'm looking for a better solution though, because it would be easier for someone to sell if it was just a drop in comb.
It would be insanely easy for a company to add this to a mass produced harp. It might even be easier than assembling with screws. I was told by someone in the business that of the 4 big harp companies, 2 were resistant to change, 1 liked change but had a lot of other projects, and the last one liked change but didn't like giving credit. Patents are too expensive and no one will work just on non-disclosure agreements, so here it is, for anyone who wants to see if it will improve the harp world. :)
If people are interested, I could do more specific instructions and share the tricks I've come up with. The basic version, like any good comb mod, can be swapped to another harp, as long you have metal covers. I have a workaround for not metal covers too, but it involves modifying the covers or getting custom screws.
I also made a point to make sure there was no way the magnets could get out without taking screws out. Little magnets can be dangerous around kids (if they swallow two they can get stuck in the digestive system). I can modify a harp in a few minutes. Someone who actually is good with there hands could do it even faster. I've got a few ideas too, if anyone were to go to the mass production level, including a jig system for installing the magnets quicker, but you only need that for mass production.
My calipers say that the 0178 magnet is exactly the same thickness as Tom's combs, by the way, although I don't recommend using the hole in the magnet to anchor the pin for that method (magnets are brittle), but two magnets, countersunk on either side would work well.
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Pistolcat
496 posts
Aug 20, 2013
1:02 PM
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That seem like a cool thing, Nate. Keep tinkering! Inventions like these is what better the world :)
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Pistolkatt - Pistolkatts youtube
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