kingrobot
10 posts
Apr 21, 2010
9:58 AM
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Two evenings of ignoring my wife (she's pissed), have turned out a sealed and gapped marine band in C and a sealed and gapped MS blues harp. The edges of the reedplates have been sanded down and rounded. While this may improve my tone, Jenn probably thinks I'm having an affair because i'm being distant and have these sores on my mouth from playing harsh harps.
After about a decade break, I had restocked my arsenal with Lee Oskars. Besides a valved Suzuki promaster, Lee Oskars were the only harmonicas that had survived the hibernation period. A bunch of special 20s and Huang silvertones and gone sour and i didn't know how to fix them.
I missed the warmth of the little Hohner Sp20s and after picking up an old marine band, i convinced myself i needed a classic woody tone for acoustic stuff.
I ordered a crossover and compared the gapping and how nicely it responded. I mangled that old marine band, surprising myself how easy (and addicting) it was to disassemble, drilling it out for screws/bolts and trying to seal the comb with beeswax. I gapped the reeds out of tune and too tight to play. Training.
I bought a new marine Band and a Blues Harp MS.
They both got drilled- all new holes for the marine band, two additional holes for the blues harp. Got some butcher block oil at Home Depot and some small nuts and bolts at a little hardware store. I wanted finish and a tiny tap, but couldn't find any locally.
Used a hand drill to make holes. Sanded the combs a little too much and had to correct them. Dunked and rubbed the combs wit the oil- they look great. I tried to heat the combs up in the microwave first but ended up warping one of them and had to press it flat with a book and a couch.
They looked great reassembled, but still were too breezy and the reed plates stuck out enough to slice up my lips. While healing from my lip slice herpes, I decided to sand down the edges of the plates and risk gapping. I took everything apart and adjusted the offsets back and forth, hopefully not knocking them out of tune.
I woke up this morning and they both play great. Unless i'm careful, i'm going to start getting obsessive about tuning next. Already, i'm hungry to mangle more marine bands or try a brass comb.
I should probably get some lip balm and check on how my wife is doing, but i feel like champion of the world.
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harmonicanick
724 posts
Apr 21, 2010
10:08 AM
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Could your wife be getting pissed because she has found herself living with a diseased obsessive?
Keep up the good work and don't blow too hard.
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kingrobot
13 posts
Apr 21, 2010
10:14 AM
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@ harmonicanick: Yes and I can't blow too hard because I've gapped everything too tight.
@ kingrobot: No, but if i did, it'd be ok. Thinking about that, maybe after tuning, you should learn about cleaning harps. Maybe before.
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nacoran
1736 posts
Apr 21, 2010
11:43 AM
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I have 3 Blues Harps. They sound great but they do tear up the lips. I keep saying I'm going to try to fix one of them up, but I'm afraid I'll screw it up. Anyone know a really cheap wooden combed harp to experiment with?
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Nate
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oda
275 posts
Apr 21, 2010
12:00 PM
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I second Nacorans' inquiry. A blues harp in C was the first harmonica I got. It was leaky, hard to bend, and my lips were soar! but it will always hold a sentimental value so I aim to modify it.
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kingrobot
15 posts
Apr 21, 2010
12:33 PM
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Nacoran and Oda,
Huang makes a wood combed Bac Pac Harp that shows up on amazon for about $5. It was wood a while ago anyway.
The way I justified buying a blues harp when i knew there was a good chance I'd destroy it was that I'd just have parts for the next one I'd inevitably buy. The MS meant it would be easier to swap out parts without re-drilling. I just wish $30 MBs had screws.
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arzajac
160 posts
Apr 21, 2010
12:57 PM
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I have bought a handful of used marine bands on Ebay.
Once the combs are sanded and sealed, they are not too gross.
I bought an ultrasonic cleaner for cleaning the other parts. It cost $20.
I'm having a lot of fun doing this. I have a MB C harp in my pocked that I thought was crap (It was one of those models with only six nails on one reed plate) I worked hard to get it to be less leaky. I thought it was hopeless until I tightened the gaps. It seems to me that if I tightened the gaps that much on any other kind of harp, it wouldn't play, but I guess that's what this one needed.
I would have never known unless I was willing to just chuck it.
I got it for something like $10 including the shipping.
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