SuperBee
2401 posts
Feb 13, 2015
4:51 PM
|
A harp arrived in the post this week unlike any other i'd previously seen.
it has Marine Band covers, a custom comb with rounded and somewhat protruding tines, MS Meisterklasse reed plates. its been heavily worked. the reed actions are as close to (my understanding of) perfect as i've seen. it doesn't seem to have been embossed, but the reeds themselves have all had lots of attention. its had one repair; 5 draw has been replaced using what i assume is a homemade rivet. i think its homemade...its a piece of copper. a recess has been carved in the comb to accommodate the fairly chunky end of the rivet.i.e. the rivet hasn't been filed flat on the comb side of the plate.
The harp needs 4 draw replaced. i'm wondering if i can copy the previous repair. apart from the pain of sourcing individual MS reeds, it feels weird to think about mending this beast with a screw...although the owner says they're not bothered. Last thing i want to do is butcher this thing
|
Gnarly
1244 posts
Feb 14, 2015
9:15 AM
|
Screw it.
|
arzajac
1594 posts
Feb 14, 2015
9:36 AM
|
Yes, screw it!
Who cares how the other reeds are attached? It won't make any difference to how the harp will play. With the covers on, it won't even show.
And screwing allows you to keep the reed plate flat, unlike banging in a rivet.
----------
Custom overblow harps. Harmonica service and repair.
|
harpwrench
994 posts
Feb 14, 2015
1:07 PM
|
There's pros and cons either way. Neil has rolled his own from copper for many years and they do a good job. Reed plate flatness ideally should be corrected with either method, you're still smacking the old rivet out.
|
JustFuya
727 posts
Feb 14, 2015
2:21 PM
|
As a purist, I like to see uniformity under the hood. That is my OCD burden.
|
SuperBee
2406 posts
Feb 14, 2015
11:27 PM
|
Thanks for comments. yes, clearly Neil's work...
|
Kaining
79 posts
Feb 15, 2015
7:54 AM
|
Damn, i'd like to know more about that harp now, who built/customised it, when, how does it sound or look like.
|
harpwrench
995 posts
Feb 15, 2015
8:29 AM
|
Check out Niel Graham's site, he's a long time Oz customizer and also a Hohner affiliated customizer.
|
