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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
New Harmonicas
New Harmonicas
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superchucker77
449 posts
Jun 14, 2014
6:26 PM
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Recently, the concept has been on my mind of how can harmonica companies make harmonica designs updated. To this point, pretty much every diatonic harmonica design that has come out in the last several decades, (save for perhaps the B-Radical) has been based on the same Marine Band concept. Yes, there is the golden melody yet the only company to copy that design is Huang.
When we look at harmonicas and think about how a new/younger generation of player can get interested in the harmonica, its somewhat easy to see why they may not be very appealing. Almost every harmonica is square, either brown or black in color, and is somewhat "antique" looking.
So my question to everyone here is: what would YOU like to see done differently in terms of harmonica designs for the modern era. This is 2014 after all, would'nt it be nice to see some design updates? Ergonomics, colors, artistic palets, etc. How would you want a modern harmonica to look?
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Brandon O. Bailey
Official Website of Superchucker
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Old newbie
17 posts
Jun 14, 2014
7:01 PM
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Like a crossover.
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Philosofy
560 posts
Jun 14, 2014
7:02 PM
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I had a great idea for replaceable reed chambers, which would enable you to replace a blown reed, or play with different tunings very easily. However, both Joe Filisko and Brendan Power said it wasn't that great of an idea. :(
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STME58
889 posts
Jun 14, 2014
7:31 PM
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The harmonica is no more stagnant than other instruments, look at a trombone or a sax and you wont see a lot of obvious innovation. Many if the improvements are not noticeable by looking at the instrument.
Here are some currently available harmonicas that do not look too much like a Marine Band.
I still think your question is a valid one. I would like to see innovation in reed replacement, even if nothing changed on the harp, just being able to get new reeds and rivets easily would be a big plus for me.
Last Edited by STME58 on Jun 14, 2014 7:32 PM
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HarpMan Freeman
205 posts
Jun 14, 2014
8:08 PM
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Ergo Harmonica $460
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superchucker77
450 posts
Jun 14, 2014
9:45 PM
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I like those designs Harpman. This is exactly what I'm talking about.
@STME58 those are very good examples of more modernized current harmonica designs. The seydel session as well as the sub-30 designs are my favorite currently, however I do wish that Suzuki would release a sub-30 style regular diatonic harmonica.
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Brandon O. Bailey
Official Website of Superchucker
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nacoran
7806 posts
Jun 15, 2014
1:41 AM
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If you have a drill press and a few bits you can retrofit any pretty much any harp to have it's covers attached by magnets for easy tool free access (parts per harp comes to a couple bucks. A little more work and some pins and you can do the same to the reed plates.
A machine to do custom engraving on your lids wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibilities. Tom's colored covers are great looking. Arzajac has environmentally friendly combs.
Turbolids and the turboslide are definitely modern and the Turboharp with the built in pickups is modern. There is a company in Upstate NY that makes a SIPS device patterned after the harmonica. It's main job is an accessibility tool for paraplegics, allowing them to control computers and such- but it doubles as a synthesizer controller. I've wondered if you could create a magnetic plate that could fit into any harp that would change it's tuning from X to Y (major to minor). I'm not sure the spacing would be the same across different keys though. I've also tried to figure out a variation of the chromatic that had different plates that you could slide into place to block different sets of notes to make them into easy to play keyed harps. There is that harmonica that has the built in LEDs that change color with a dial (you could probably get it to change to the music instead).
There is a type of comb that slopes out towards the back. Mostly I've seen it on cheap old magnus plastic harps and tremolos- nothing where performance bending is an issue- but they look really really slick. (I think they are 6.5 mm in the front, 10 mm in the back.) If it didn't change the playability in a negative way it would be a great way to make a cosmetic improvement.
You can round the ends of harps and it makes them much much nicer to hold, easier to cup, weigh less, and look better.
Sub-30s, alternate tunings...
I once looked at the price for the new generation bullet resistant glass (the stuff that's replacing lexan). It can stop a .50 sniper rifle round. It's a transparent aluminum substance. Unfortunately, machining it aside, it would cost about $200 for a piece about the size of a harp comb. :)
David Payne made a comb once shaped to resemble the body of a guitar. BlueXlabs has Sp20 style combs made out of machined metal.
I've got an idea for a springless magnetic slide that would be easier to clean. (It might also work in a stainless reed harp like the Turboslide does if someone figured it out right. Fewer stress points, should last longer, and be easier to swap out pieces on- maybe you have several of these little rods- one to tune it to minor, one for EQ, one for Compromise, etc.
In the purely joke field, I've figured out that you can stack harmonicas one on top of each other by taking off their covers and putting a comb between them backwards. I plan on making one for a goof, but someone who retuned something like that might be able to make a fairly cheap chord harp.
I saw a neat mic/amp combo once where someone put two bullet mics together end to end, using one as a mic and the other as an amp. Battery technology and a better amp design might make that practical.
The problem is, most of these things probably either require too much money to start up, too much time for too little a return or are just too niche. I think, with reeds blowing out, the mix of customizers who will sell you upgrades of the parts that last that you can install yourself without any skill combined with the companies improving the quality of their reed plates is probably a pretty good match.
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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Philosofy
561 posts
Jun 15, 2014
8:54 AM
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Here's a little more on my idea:
My idea is tough to describe without visuals, but here goes.
First, my idea is not replaceable reeds, but rather replaceable reed chambers.
Standard reed plates are 1/32" thick. Standard spacing between harmonica holes are 1/8". So four reed chambers side by side (2 draw, 2 blow) would be the standard spacing of holes.
To describe my idea, think of a shoe box, and cut out one end. So you have a box with two sides missing: the top (or bottom) and one end. The long top or bottom side of the box is where the reed will be. The blow reed chamber is slightly bigger than the draw reed chamber, so the draw reed chamber nests inside the blow reed chamber. There is a hole at the end of each chamber to allow a screw to attach them to the spine (no comb, I call it a spine instead.)
Since higher pitched reeds have a shorter comb slot, a spacer could be made to take up the extra space if needed. I'm not sure if the shorter slots are there for comb strength or for sonic integrity.
By my calculation, a full set of diatonic harps needs 28 separate reed plates, and all reeds have to be machined exactly: ten reeds for each plate. My method only uses one reed per plate, so its easier to dial in accuracy. Also, many notes are duplicated between the different keys. So you would only need to produce 96 reed chambers. (This is just a quick calculation: 12 notes X 4 octaves X 2 (one draw and one blow chamber.)
Replacing a blown reed is easy: just unscrew the one chamber, remove the draw and blow chamber, replace the broken one, and screw it back in. It would also allow easy switching of tuning schemes, which I know you love to do. No centering of the reed, gapping, etc.
For the customizer, you could set up all ten holes with blow G, draw B, and work on all the reeds to compare them to a standard, so you can tune and set up ten identical reed sets at once.
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OldGeezer
12 posts
Jun 15, 2014
10:52 AM
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Philosofy's idea has been used in a slightly different form. In the 1930s, Harmonic Reed Co. of Phila. PA made something they called the 'All American.' (There's an All American on eBay right now) Later, after the war, they made the 'US Army Band' harmonica. What was different was that Harmonic Reed used reeds that were each set into it's own reed plate. So, if you blew a reed, all you had to do was slide the old one out, and slip in the new reed/plate assembly. Unfortunately, they weren't very good. They leaked like sieves, and were cheaply made. HOWEVER, the basic idea is good. It would take modern materials, manufacturing techniques and some R&D, but the result would be a proper leak-free instrument. The replacement reeds would be sold in blister packs, so they would all be properly adjusted and tuned when they left the factory - no more messing around with small screws, reeds, etc.
If I did things correctly, here's a photo, if not, contact me and I'll eMail you a couple:
(broken link removed)
Regards,
Paul N.
Last Edited by Guest on Jun 15, 2014 8:06 PM
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Philosofy
562 posts
Jun 15, 2014
11:28 AM
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OldGeezer, Joe Filisko emailed me some pics. I think my idea would be more airtight if done properly.
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Danny_D
7 posts
Jun 16, 2014
1:16 PM
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I would love to be able to swap the covers on my harps to various different designs. It shouldn't cost most manufacturers much extra to offer a variety of covers for the standard issue one.
If I feel blue, I'd like a nice bluesy colour. If I feel funky then a hot pink :)
It's all very well to say you can do that easily with a drill press. The problem is that I barely have enough time to play my harp let alone play around with drill presses and design new covers.
It would be fantastic to have some colours on my harps :)
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chicagopsych
17 posts
Jun 17, 2014
2:58 PM
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Thanks for the explanation regarding the spam filter. I edited this post so not to be a duplicate.
Last Edited by chicagopsych on Jun 18, 2014 3:50 PM
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chicagopsych
19 posts
Jun 18, 2014
3:04 PM
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I have tried to add examples of new and unique harmonicas two different times and the reply gets deleted. Are we not allowed to post links to harmonica manufacturers? Is it being considered spam? Just curious.
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nacoran
7812 posts
Jun 18, 2014
3:36 PM
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Chicagopsych, we have an automated spam filter. We can't turn it off- it's baked into the server software. If your posts disappear it's almost certainly the culprit. It goes in a folder and every day we manually undelete them. Generally speaking, a short statement followed by a link is more likely to get caught, but that's not a hard and fast rule. We will undelete them though, so eventually...
I remember seeing pictures of the Yonberg before. What gets me is they went through all the trouble of making the inside tools free, but you still need a screwdriver to take off the cover... (unless they've cracked that nut since I saw it). It actually inspired me to take a crack at tools free. I went with magnets. I can attach the covers no problem, and if I had better tools I think I could get the plates on as well. You basically just need little rounded end nubs in the comb instead of screw holes, and a couple magnets, one on each end, to hold the covers on. (The little nubs hold everything in place side to side.)
The problem is the nubs aren't stock. A jewelers lathe to make them is a few hundred bucks and I've got no place to set them and I don't think there is enough of a market for it. Of course, I think the Yonberg does a lot more tweaking and it looks cool. Still, I tinker around with the idea from time to time.
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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Philosofy
566 posts
Jun 18, 2014
4:04 PM
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Danny_D, here are my color coded harps:
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ricanefan
137 posts
Jun 19, 2014
10:21 AM
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Superchucker77's point, and STME58's follow-up underscore the reality: anything not a gimmick that has had any staying power are either similar to a marine band or a suzuki. Those shapes - not all that dissimilar - must make the most of the sound. The variations are wonderful - keep them coming! But they are likely to not stray too far from the formula, lest they disappear. What I particularly like these days is the multitude of custom combs that DO make a harp look unique without taking away any character.
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isaacullah
2825 posts
Jun 19, 2014
11:26 AM
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Well folks, sad to say it, but it seems there ain't nothin' new under the sun! Many of the things discussed here have already been patented by the US patent, some more than a hundred years ago!!!
Google Patents list for patents with the word "Harmonica" and from before 1990
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superchucker77
451 posts
Jun 19, 2014
12:47 PM
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I would definitely push more manufacturers to off at least more comb and coverplate colors. Seydel has certainly started to do that with their newer plastic comb models, but hohner and suzuki are mostly sticking to a more classic color pallet. I just think that it would be cool for alternate comb color variations to be offered directly from the manufacturer rather than as aftermarket, 3rd party accessories.
However, that could be a bad thing if they did offer them since many of our custom comb makers would suffer a hit in business.
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Brandon O. Bailey
Official Website of Superchucker
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Frank
4564 posts
Jun 19, 2014
12:57 PM
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Colors are cool, but kids today want everything to "already be smart"
The youngish need a "smart harmonica"...were they can actually get some use out it,
lets be honest - what percentage would actually play to darn thing compared to using it to send text
Seriously, a (smart harmonica) is the fasted track to it becoming all the rage")
Last Edited by Frank on Jun 19, 2014 1:00 PM
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barbequebob
2603 posts
Jun 19, 2014
12:59 PM
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@superchucker77 -- I really don't think custom comb makes would suffer that much because harp makers are doing everything on an assembly line and they will never take the time to make sure that no matter what the comb material is that it is absolutely 100% perfectly flat because just in terms of labor costs alone, it would be far too expensive for them to do so and there are going to be cutting of corners somewhere along the line and so the comb makers are still going to do a far better, more precise job, but it's still gonna cost more than stock assembly line stuff because that comb maker is gonna take more time and effort to make them much more perfectly flat and it's the old saying, "time is money," is always going to apply to any OOTB product.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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tmf714
2583 posts
Jun 19, 2014
1:15 PM
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Glass comb harp-
/Glass Comb
Last Edited by tmf714 on Jun 19, 2014 1:20 PM
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tmf714
2584 posts
Jun 19, 2014
1:21 PM
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Key of Eb Harmonica..... The Stengel Glass Harmonicas to start with, are the most FRAGILE instruments I have seen... just like for people to know that rite off the bat.. I'm a Glass blower by trade, and Harmonica lover by night, so I came up with the Glass Harmonica.. This Harmonica is an extremely rare piece of Art work, that is no where else out there today... The comb is created with Borosilicate glass, which is what gives it such a great sound... From the density of the Borosilicate, the sound resonates off it, giving a bit louder and sharper sound.. A variety of techniques, From Cold Working, to Flame Working even filing by hand, were used to create the harmonica... The reeds are made from Hohners already tested Special 20 reeds, with Hohner cover plate... This is a customized Harmonica with gapped reeds, a few extra holes for extra air tite quality, and some other fine tuning... it is held together with stainless steel screws for easy cleaning and tuning as well... This Harmonica is Not recommended for beginners. This is really for the Harmonica connoisseur and Art Collectors.. Something that your friends or colleagues don't have yet, Extremly unique Birthday presents, Wedding gifts and so on, a Harp fanatic will love this.... Also this smooth playin Harmonica comes with its very own case... Because they are so Fragile, I send them in a padded case, or known as a pistol case... there are latches on the front of the case, and hard plastic on the outside.... so should make for easy delivery as well.. This Harp really has a nice sound, the Overblows and Overdraws are rite on the money... A Sweet sounding Eb Harmonica.. Enjoy, also this piece is signed by the artist Geoff Stengel
eugeneglassmenagerie.com or geoffstengel.com
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tmf714
2585 posts
Jun 19, 2014
1:26 PM
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STME58
920 posts
Jun 19, 2014
1:32 PM
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I have thought that glass or Jade would make a good comb material. I see I am not alone in this. Thanks for sharing that.
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