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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
dating harps
dating harps
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harponica
116 posts
Apr 29, 2014
10:55 AM
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I have a Blues Band harp I'm trying to get a production date on,Chinese in C.To say I'm hard on harps is an understatement,but here is a bottom feeder harp that just won't die,yet.Doesn't hurt having an original 59 Bassman previously owned by Ceasar Diaz to compliment it.
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Sherwin
156 posts
Apr 29, 2014
11:33 AM
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@harponica
This may not sound nice but, I say the time spent trying to date your Chinese harp would be better spent earning enough money to buy a decent harp........
Sincerely Michael
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KingoBad
1461 posts
Apr 29, 2014
12:04 PM
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May I suggest sticking with dating people?
It is more complicated, but generally much more rewarding...
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Danny
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bluemoose
970 posts
Apr 29, 2014
2:14 PM
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Blues Bands were introduced in the early 70's. Don't have the rich background of the Marine Band.
Pat Missin Marine Band ID Guide
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MBH Webbrain - a GUI guide to Adam's Youtube vids
FerretCat Webbrain - Jason Ricci's vids (by hair colour!)
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harponica
117 posts
Apr 29, 2014
5:06 PM
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I guess manufacturing date codes don't exist?Yes this is as cheap as they come,but apparently metal quality was very good.
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nacoran
7699 posts
Apr 30, 2014
10:36 AM
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Harponica, since Kingo already stole the punch line, I guess the first step would be to take it apart and see if there are any stampings on it. If there aren't, I don't know any way to date a Blues Band. I haven't seen any difference from one to the next, and for what it's worth, they seem to have the same reeds as several other of the cheap plastic harps- Piedmont, Pocket Pal, etc.
That said, I've had my share of cheap harps, and every now and then you get a winner. I had a Piedmont D that was my gig harp until the day it died. The sound was a little muted, but on a D, I just thought of it as high frequency removal. Generally speaking, those harps have thin reeds that won't produce as good sound, but thin reeds and less than entirely airtight construction does lead to reeds that don't tend to blow out. (My Piedmont only went when I was testing to see exactly how far I could push it.)
My understanding of reed thickness is that it's counterintuitive. If you bend a piece of paper over and over, as long as you don't crease it or keep it rolled for a long time, it will go back to shape, whereas if you bend a stick, snap. Basically, because of it's own thickness, the surface has to bend farther to achieve the same range of motion. Another, sort of odd metaphor is a skinny arm in a jacket. You can move it back and forth, no problem, but you put a fat arm in the jacket and suddenly reaching for something becomes an issue. Not a perfect metaphor, but my computer drawing skills are terrible so I can't illustrate it any better.
For what it's worth, if they didn't muffle the sound, I'd put Piedmont covers on every one of my harps. They are the easiest covers on the lips I've ever played. (Blues Band covers, on the other hand, are jagged little switchblades designed only to cause pain.)
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Nate
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STME58
797 posts
Apr 30, 2014
1:31 PM
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When you crank out large quantities of something, you are bound to make a good one now and then even if your process is far from optimum. Sounds like you may have one of those. Hang on to it and if you blow a reed it is probably worth replacing on that particular harp, even if it costs a bit more than a new bluesband harp.
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