Do the Matt finish Seydel cover plates (Session or 1847) noticeably reduce lip drag when your lips are dry? Thinking of trying a Seydel session in one form or another and I see some have Polished covers while others have Matt covers, so it got me wondering about the lip drag factor.
Have never noticed a difference. I put the Noble matt plates on the 1847, not because of ease of play but because they have open side vents which I prefer.
Funny you bring this up yesterday i was looking at an 1847 and thinking about how much smoother the covers are compared to all my other harps regardless of finish or brand.
Well here is the results of an experiment I just did,
first i wiped down a session steel and a 1847 noble with one of the little cleaning cloths the come with. So both clean dry and unplayed for several hours.
second i made sure my lips were dry,
Now for the test,,
run both back and forth on dry lips, no playing,
1847 noble, smooth no drag.
Session, a bit of drag wants to catch.
Now i swap them to see if that changes, no change. back and forth several times same results.
For some reason the 1847s matt covers just don't stick.
Interesting, thanks for that. In theory the matt covers should provide less drag due to the less flat/smooth surface. Sounds like it works that way for you. I definitely get noticeable, even uncomfortable, drag on polished covers as my lips dry out while playing, maybe it's time I tried matt.
And OT: My uncle ran a racquet stringing business for years. Even did it mobile for awhile, which I guess isn't uncommon these days. Interesting line of work.
Is that sort of like how golf balls have dimples that increase the surface area but decrease the drag?
I've wondered about the slightly related issue of stamping. Although I can feel the individual bumps on a Lee Oskar, which has fairly wide lettering, but the finer lettering on Hohners seems to tear up my lips more.
One of the customizers in Europe, I don't remember if it was BlueX or Plunz or who, but they had a limited edition harp that had a teflon edge on the cover. The first search result I got for teflon harmonica, after some for wind savers was one suggesting putting teflon tape on the front edge of the cover. Or at least that's what I think he's doing. It's in Russian.
Do the side vents have any effect on amplified tone ? I like to try a Noble out but I always use a Bullet mic and just don't know how much air/sound would come out side vents instead of directly into the mic. Thanks Lou
Lou, I think so. Some people have written that it only makes a difference to the player, but my experience is different. I believe it makes the whole colour slightly brighter, more like the traditional Marine Band sound.
Nate, yeah, sort of like golf balls. Or tires, where a slick tire on smooth road grips better than a tire with a tread pattern due to the slick having more contact surface.
Teflon tape on the cover plates, those crafty Russkies! That video once again reminding me that I wish my grandparents had taught me the language.
Lou, I agree with Little Roger, vented side covers do sound different.
I prefer the vented sound acoustically, but for playing amplified, the vented plates can negatively impact your ability to get the really "tight" cup required to get maximum compression, which is what gets you the maximum bass response and the darkest sound, if that's what you're going for.
I say the vents "can" have a negative effect, but IME this is dependent on your cupping technique and hand size. I have a good cup, but small hands. For me, non-vented covers make getting great amplified tone with a bullet mic easy. With vented covers it takes a lot more work as I can just barely form an endcap to cover the right side vents while maintaining the cup in front and my right thumb over holes 9 and 10. I get more leakage and less compression this way, and I can never full cover the vents on the left.
That said, I suspect this is a complete non-issue for those who have medium or large size hands. For me, covers without vents are just a lot more enjoyable to play amplified. Unfortunately 95% of my harps are Marine Bands, lol. If only those regular 1847 covers would fit....
Thanks Little R & LSB, I will not be buying a Noble I'll stick with the Session which I really like so no reason to to try the Nobel. I'm a pretty new harp player and just getting what I think is a an OK amplified sound I think part of it is improved cupping on the mic and some of me just improving my over all tone. Still got a long way to go but it's cool to see improvement and have it noticed by other players/band-mates. Lou
Last Edited by