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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
A Question About Covers
A Question About Covers
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nacoran
1427 posts
Mar 16, 2010
8:10 PM
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This is mostly one of those curiosity posts. We spend a lot of time talking about combs and reeds but not a lot about covers.
I've got a couple old harps with covers that are a bit worse for wear. One seems to have been polished right through the plating to whatever metal is underneath. I've seen a couple threads on here speculating on the best methods to clean, be it with a toothbrush and elbow grease or denture tablets. I've heard people talk about wearing out covers and wearing off plating. So I was wondering if anyone had, first of all, any information on exactly what different harp covers are made of, and second, what are the specs for chemical reactivity and Moh's scale numbers on them, if anyone knows. (I remember Jason talking about being ripped off on a gold plating job.)
If we get that figured out, the next question is what feels best and does it matter. Is there a practical way to make your own covers? Thick or thin? What shape? Plastic, metal, ceramic, wood or plating. How about etching blank covers?
What are the allergy issues? There are some suspected health links, but has anyone ever tried Teflon?
If you had a custom cover, what would you put on it? No idea is too crazy, well, at least for purposes of this thread.
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Nate
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barbequebob
613 posts
Mar 16, 2010
9:23 PM
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Cover plate design makes far more of a difference in the way harps sound than comb material does, and years back, I used to believe comb material did more, but after knowing more about tunings and how they work, I've come to the conclusion that even tho comb material does have some effect, it's relatively minor when compared to tuning, reed material, reed profile, reed plate thickness and the overall cover plate design and even in its thickness as well.
A thin cover plate tends to crush more easily but it does make some harps play louder and two examples of that are the Suzuki Manji and a set of custom stainless steel cover plates for the Hohner MS series that was made by harp customizer Joe Filisko. The one made by Filisko made it louder and really bright sounding.
I'd be wary of teflon as that's something you may need to be cautious about because if that flakes off if it hasn't been coated correctly, it could wind up being very toxic.
I've had harps that were nickel plated and they get discolored very quickly and like any other metal or coating, if not applied correctly, it can flake off.
I've also played covers that were double chromed and I liked those and they were easier to keep clean than nickel.
If you have older harps, chances are the covers are nickel plated. What I found to clean up and polish those old nickel plated covers was a German automotive polish called Happich Simichrome that you can get in some auto parts stores and once you've got those covers gleaming, I'd advise getting a lint free paper towel soaked in isoporopyl alcohol 91% by volume and further clean it up to insure that there's no irritation from that and sterilize it before it goes in your mouth. It's the only metal polish that I've ever found to really work well with nickel plated covers.
You can use Noxon, which is much more widely available as a substitute, but it's nowhere near as good as the Happich Simichrome.
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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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hvyj
213 posts
Mar 16, 2010
9:58 PM
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Vented covers definitely sound different than unvented covers. I happen to think that full length covers sound different than sandwich style covers.
Now, some people think I'm crazy when i say this, but I think PAINTED covers sound a little darker than bare metal covers, but some knowledgeable people agree with me about this. Hard to prove one way or the other, though.
Last Edited by on Mar 16, 2010 9:59 PM
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Aussiesucker
580 posts
Mar 16, 2010
10:28 PM
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Some older coverplates contained a lot of nickel. Approx 10% of the population suffers from nickel allergy. It's not life threatening but once you have it, and it slowly builds up over time, it's with you for life.
If you play harp and find you constantly are afflicted with what you & your Dr thought were cold sores (herpes simplex), well they might be but, they might really be an allergy to nickel. The symptoms on the lips are not that different ie blisters and sores like cold sores.
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nacoran
1428 posts
Mar 17, 2010
7:50 AM
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Mammoth Ivory! I wonder if there is any sabertooth ivory frozen in the tundra. That would be badass.
I don't have similar harps to compare tone on, but for comfort I like the covers that extend the whole length of the harp. I've seen versions like my Seydel that tapers towards the end, but I've also see pics of ones that are square all the way to the end, and of course there are the golden melody ones.
I've seen some jewelry with laser etched photographs on them. I wonder if that's deep enough to not get worn off, and if it isn't if there is a coating you could put on over it. I seem to remember Tooka (I think it was Tooka) mentioning something about a spray on glass or something.
I'd love to have some useful info stamped or painted on. Lee Oskars have the first position on one end and the cross harp on the other. A Circle of Fifths rotated so the key of the harp was on top would be useful when you're starting out, and maybe a key signature.
Does anyone know anything about the durability of those brilliant colored old art deco harps? I know the audience doesn't see the harps like they would a guitar, but I'd still love to have them have a little more visual personality. (There is that paint that bonds to plastic that might work on plastic covers.)
I've even seen some jewel encrusted harps (well, probably paste encrusted harps.)
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Nate
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