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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
It's smart to get good harps playing again.
It's smart to get good harps playing again.
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Lonesome Harpman
207 posts
Sep 24, 2016
5:25 PM
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Many players I know have a growing collection of unplayable harps. It's great that they no longer casually toss away their investment in expensive harmonicas, but keeping them in a shoe box on the shelf is pretty much the same thing? What these harps have is potential. I am very busy at work and the last thing I want to do in my spare hours is work on harps vs. time spent playing harps. I do the normal maintenance to get the longest life out of them, but eventually they fail in where the hours spent repairing and tweaking is no longer enjoyable. If you work on your own harps, God bless you, perhaps you're not the target audience for this post? It's great that you build your own combs from rescued trees and forge the metal for your cover plates, blah blah blah, but please note you're under no obligation share that information with us. So to get to the point, I just got back 15 harmonicas from Harvey Harp, these included mostly stock Hohners mixed with some high end customs that I wanted to continue playing at gigs. The whole job cost less than what it would I had invested in about 4 new harps. It is so nice to get them back all sounding sweet. Thank you Harvey. Contact Harvey if you'd like to save time and money.
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STME58
1835 posts
Sep 24, 2016
10:39 PM
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Knowing a good harp tech is a great thing. I am pretty good mechanically and have successfully repaired harps, but a person who does it all the time and has acquired a collection of special tools can do it much more efficiently. In my opinion, it is well worth the price. Many times the repaired harp will play better than what you might purchase new.
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HarveyHarp
733 posts
Sep 25, 2016
12:01 PM
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Thanks Ted. SMT, I would say the repaired harps are almost always better than stock, for the reasons that have been explained here many time. Its the most bang for your buck, unless you just hate the way your harp feels in your mouth.
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HarveyHarp
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florida-trader
1003 posts
Sep 25, 2016
4:35 PM
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This post is an example of the shifting mindset in among serious harmonica players. As recently as 8-10 years ago you could buy a Marine Band for about $20.00. If and when you blew it out, you just threw it away (or threw it in a box with your other broken harps) and bought a new one. There wasn’t much information available about how to repair or tune harps so not many guys did it on their own. And harp techs were few and far between - who could possibly offer harp repair services at prices low enough to compete with the $20.00 cost of new harp? In the past 8-10 years, as we have seen the prices of harmonicas steadily rise we have also seen the emergence of harmonicacentric websites and instructional videos on YouTube. The combination of higher harp prices and affordable harp tech services has made fixing/repairing a harp a more attractive proposition than replacing it. This mentality has evolved into one of looking at harmonicas as long-term investments rather than disposable tools. Harvey is certainly one of the guys who is helping make this happen.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
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mlefree
767 posts
Sep 25, 2016
5:23 PM
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I am the happy recipient of several such stashes of "dead" harps. I always ask harpers I meet if they have some old dead harps. Often they'll just give 'em to me outright knowing they will be going to a good (well, better) home. If not, I'll offer to fix one out of every 5 or 6 and give them back in trade for the rest or repair a few of their keepers. As often as not, they're real simple, easy fixes. Otherwise they go into the spare part boneyard.
As a result, I haven't ~had~ to buy a new harp for a long, long time. Not to say I haven't completely cured the itch for a new one now and then, especially with all the great harps coming out these days.
Michelle
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Last Edited by mlefree on Sep 25, 2016 5:25 PM
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Garlic Breath
60 posts
Sep 25, 2016
7:56 PM
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What a timely topic, as my C,A, and Bb have all suffered a broken or stuck reed in the past couple months. Rather than send Tom a stock harp with problems for a simple reed replacement, I'm always inclined to have him at least replace the comb with one of his far superior customs. What I always fear is contributing to swamping him with more work than he has time for. He has always been very accommodating, and provides the same great service to amateur players as to the pros. I've thought about buying the tools to maintain my own harps and the craft is very interesting, but I have so many things to work on in the rest of my life, that I'd be better off using my limited time playing rather than working on my instruments. For now, I'll probably be sending them off to Tom and buy his improved versions as money becomes available. The eventual goal will be to have two reed plates for each harp. One on the custom comb, and one as a backup. When one plate develops a problem, it can be sent for service and the other installed. That having been said, It still seems worth it to have some knowledge of harp servicing, and at least some simple tools. Does anyone have thoughts on a strategy to prevent down time with their set of harps without having to spend lots of precious time and money working on them?
Last Edited by Garlic Breath on Sep 25, 2016 7:58 PM
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SuperBee
4140 posts
Sep 26, 2016
3:07 AM
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When I started repairing my own, it was because I could find no one else to do it at a price which made sense. That was around 4 years ago. After a time of doing my own work and seeing the repairs seemed stable, I started taking work from others.
word gets around. I'm about to finish up a job for a player in NSW, I've got an unopened box of harps waiting for work. And as I've been writing this, I've received an enquirer from a fellow up in Qld.
I always strive to send back a harp I'd be happy to keep in my own kit. It's not always practical, but usually they come up pretty well. Maybe because people choose to get the "good ones" repaired.
Tbh though, I feel like I'm terribly slow to do them these days. With the warmer days coming on, there is a lot of competition for the time.
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Killa_Hertz
1780 posts
Sep 26, 2016
5:07 AM
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When I first started working on my own harps, I loved it. But Now I understand where you guys are coming from. When I get a new harp I'm not exactly looking forward to taking the time to set it up how I like. To do it right can take a good chunk of time, unless your a pro like Harvey.
Although once you do it right once, the hard part is over. After that you may just have to tweak a gap here or there. But the initial setup can be a drag. So I always wait until a few things pile up and then when im feeling froggy, I do all my various harp work in one sitting.
If any of you are interested I had posted a thread in the beginners forum on some home made tools I use. Nothing real fancy, Most of them made from feeler gauges, but they get the job done. People have been asking me what I use, so I finally did a little run down. The official tools that guys like Andrew and R. Sleigh sell look Great, but not all of us have that kind of money to invest in tools. And I had heard so many times " Im going to start working on my own harps, but i have to save up for some tools." So I tried to help people on a budget be able to actually make a nice playing harp. None of these tools are used for reed replacement however because I have yet to break any reeds, But I'm sure that time will come soon enough. And at that point I may just invest in one of Richards Reed replacement setups.
I think it's great that all these niche services are being offered. The Harmonica Community is really amazing. It's nothing like I've experienced anywhere else. Everyone knows everyone and it's very personal. It's really great and I'm glad to be a part of it. I can't wait to see where it goes as it evolves further.
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Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Sep 26, 2016 5:10 AM
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JustFuya
962 posts
Sep 26, 2016
7:35 AM
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In the old days a harp purchase was a crap shoot. Once you walked out the door of the music shop you owned it. The bellows were a poor inspection tool, at least for me, so I bit my tongue and hoped for the best. I never threw them away but I didn't keep them either.
So nice to have options now.
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bonedog569
1060 posts
Sep 26, 2016
9:38 AM
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What is an average re-furbish charge for an old Marine Band? Suzuki Bluesmaster? I realize some harps need more work than others. By far the biggest problem in my boneyard drawer is harps that are out of tune.
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