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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Pearwood
Pearwood
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retro50
11 posts
Jun 21, 2010
6:52 PM
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So my question is this: Is the pearwood used in harmonica combs actually pearwood that comes from the pear tree that the partridge sits in, or is that an industry name for "whatever is available cheaply"? I have heard nothing but horror stories about pearwood combs swelling, leaking, warping, shredding lips, etc. All of my blues harps are plastic combs (Special 20 & 1847's), but I am considering the purchase of a Hohner chromatic which uses a pearwood comb. I guess I have to question the purchase of an expensive instrument which uses substandard components, at least that is my take on it. Woods such as rosewood, teak etc. which are impervious to moisture make sense, and most serious harpists would put out the extra dough, I'm sure. So, do I buy the pearwood chromatic or fork over more dough and buy a Seydel with a nice high tech machined aluminum comb? I would love to hear your comments.
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Tuckster
624 posts
Jun 21, 2010
7:10 PM
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I have 3 Hohner chroms and on all of them,there's at least 1/4 inch of metal between you & the comb. The combs are also much thicker than a diatonics.
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jbone
349 posts
Jun 21, 2010
8:19 PM
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i'm no an expert but i do know that a 270 comb will warp, crack, split, under the right conditions. those being heat and moisture. at one point some years ago i tried to seal my 270's comb with beeswax, since it seemed to be swelling and warping. i took the harp apart, heated beeswax, and applied it to the comb, let it set up, scraped the excess, and put the comb in a low heat oven. it warped like the starship enterprise. in trying to persuade it back together i also cracked it into 2 pieces.
since that time i've used hering 48 series chromatics, which have a lucite comb. next i will be trying a suzuki sc model- when finances permit.
a chromatic comb is much more intricate than a diatonic comb since it houses a lot more reeds and also the spring housing and mouthpiece, and covers of course, along with supports at the rear of the covers on some models. in a production setting, at least of yesteryear, the easiest route to go was the most available wood, and it worked fairly well at least in the early years. with the revolution in harmonica popularity starting in the last century, more harps were in demand and manufacturers were doing all they could to meet demand. i read kim field's book "harmonicas, harps, and heavy breathers", and part of the history of chromatics has to do with vaudeville shows. some of those harp players basically worked on their own harps to get them where they'd play halfway decent, and that was in the 30's and 40's.
i think that was part of why we didn't see decent harps coming out for a while, production was speeded up by cutting corners in the QA department.
i've pretty much given up on wood combs. the expense and effort involved to get a hardwood comb and put a good harp together around it just isn't my cup of tea. so either plastic or wood/resin composite combs is what is in my case for the most part. i do have one blues harp-pearwood- i resurrected recently, and also a hering vintage 1923, which has a partly sealed comb. other than that i just refuse to mess with wood any more.
sound tests indicate that there's no real difference in the end result whichever comb is used in a harp so to me it's a moot point. people have their preferences and swear by one material or another and i respect that.
these days we're very fortunate to have some manufacturers who have listened to us end users and responded to our needs. so we see lucite combs, even metal combs. composite combs. and independent makers are in fact making hardwood diatonic combs. there are probably even guys out there doing hardwood chromatic combs- for a price. maybe worth a look.
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MP
510 posts
Jun 21, 2010
8:32 PM
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i own some 270s and even my pre-war model is a little leaky.
the sydel deluxe 12 hole is a very good chro at around $150. not leaky, very smooth slide, and great tone. i'm sold on 'em.
you can even get them with a lucite comb at no extra cost.
i think it is a great value and a top shelf harp.
ebay has new ones from music123.
Last Edited by on Jun 21, 2010 8:34 PM
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BigDogDaddyD
1 post
Jul 02, 2019
1:17 AM
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Not an expert, but I've been repairing old Hohner chromatics for awhile now. Almost all of the older ones are cracked, split, and even broken. But I must admit that once I clean, glue, sand, and seal them, they rebuild beautifully. I can usually even rescue the original leather valves (if wanted). And it's fairly easy to convert them to screws, and lose the pesky little nails. I've found it makes the combs easier to finish when given a few coats of danish oil or tru-oil and allowed to cure for a week or so. Then shellac, or varnish, or even polyurethane as a finishing sealer. But I can certainly see why many folks are updating their old harps with man-made material, both plastic and metal.
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jbone
2958 posts
Jul 02, 2019
3:04 AM
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First off welcome to the hangout here BDDD. Good place, good players.
I moved over in the last 7 or 8 years to the Suzuki SCX 48 model. Liked them well enough to buy two, a G and a low D. Lucite comb. My Hering in low C has survived about 12 years now, with a reed replace.
A friend gave me a Hohner Chromonica II some years ago and while it plays ok and looks absolutely retro, it's very easy to stall a reed, so must be played very gently.
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SuperBee
6045 posts
Jul 02, 2019
4:30 AM
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Holy reanimated threads, Batman!
2010! I think I’d only been a member here about 6 months when this was posted.
I’ve been repairing a couple original 270 combs lately.
My customer is not interested in other materials.
I must finish tuning this one, then I need to take the bottom reedplate off again and sort out a noisy windsaver. It’s a bit of a pest pulling the nails and reinstalling each time but I’ve been getting practice at least.
They do seem to come up pretty well if you clamp them well. If you mistreat them though; bad results.
I’m about to fit a brand new wooden comb to my prewar 260. It’s a non-solo tuned 260, such as Little Walter used on Oh Baby! and Sonny Boy used on Dissatisfied.
I repaired the original and it was playable but less so than I’d like.
In the days before Db harps, this was one way to play blues in Ab I suppose.
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jbone
2959 posts
Jul 03, 2019
3:36 AM
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So I am pretty sure I read in Kim Field's book, "Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathing", that pear trees were very close by and available when Hohner was beginning to make a lot of harmonicas, so it was the go to wood. It was not for any good reasons like density or waterproof qualities. And as we've seen, that wood will swell the tines out on a comb under "wet" playing, and to the point where a harp is not much good any more. I have a stock 365 I used for years that this happened to and I'm in a quandary what to do with it. It's nailed together and I don't think it's worth fooling with. I have very little space and limited tools as well. I'm considering the Lucky 13 that Brendan Power developed as a replacement.
I tried the Hering 1923 Vintage model for a time and the combs were fine but I suspect they were some South American wood. They proved to have easily wrecked reeds under fairly normal play so along with long waits for new ones and reed plates, I decided to let them slide.
After a long personal boycott of Hohner last year I revisited the Marine Band, the Deluxe model. Sealed pearwood comb. Very good harp, I liked it well enough to buy 4 of them. To me there is a particular sound the MB has that I've not found in other harps. Is it the comb? No idea.
In my younger days I was trying to seal a 270 comb with beeswax, and also change from nails to screws. Due to my lack of skill and not understanding ho fragile the comb was, I ruined it. After coating with molten beeswax- very dangerous in itself- I put the comb in an oven at 200 degrees for a few minutes. This warped it beyond salvage.
I may be about to revisit some harp rework, like flat sanding combs and draw plates. Not sure yet. I use several model harps these days, mostly either wood or composite combs, and I'm debating whether it would make enough difference in playability to do the work. I've been pretty satisfied over all with the harps I use for over a year now. Some pearwood and some composite. I'm thinking maybe the Manji composite combs may benefit.
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6SN7
839 posts
Jul 03, 2019
7:41 AM
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Pearwood, is it from a pear tree or a Callery Pear, who knows.
I have owned a bunch of Hohner 270 with wood combs and they are excellent. Yes over time, they warp or crack if exposed to the humidity or sun or heat.
I owned a Seydel chromatic , it was terrible. Leaky like crazy, I wanted to love it but tossed it in the garbage. Why pay that money to have it tweaked, bad deal. I'd buy an Eastop before a entry level Seydel chromatic. There more expensive ones are superior to this model.
I bought a Suzuki SCX 48, muc much much better than a Seydel. No tweaking necessary, great harp. If this is your first chromatic either the CX12 or the SCX. I prefer the cx12, but some people dont like jamming it into their mouth but they re loud and effective
Last Edited by 6SN7 on Jul 03, 2019 7:46 AM
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dchurch
252 posts
Jul 03, 2019
9:34 AM
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So my question is this: Is the pearwood used in harmonica combs actually pearwood that comes from the pear tree that the partridge sits in, or is that an industry name for "whatever is available cheaply"?
I'll comment about the wood but admittedly don't know much about chromatic harps.
Yes, the pearwood is from a pear tree. No doubt it is more specially from the Pyrus communis, which is native to Europe. The same wood was/is used commonly for making things like quality draftsmen tools. I have some of it in my shop. If you buy pearwood here in the US from an imported woods dealer it will typically be Pyrus communis and not for example from a Bartlett pear tree…
I’m sure Hohner selected the pearwood based on the fact that it was a readily available commercial lumber product and for its qualities as a suitable wood for the purpose. It was/is recognized as a stable wood that has very fine grain, no visible pores, low friction and machines beautifully. It is also fairly strong and durable. Rosewood was being used for similar tools and instruments but it had to be imported and at a higher cost.
I personally like the pearwood combs on my Marine Band harps. I have one Marine Band with a Lucite comb. It plays great, but I sense/hear a difference when I play it. I don’t think I would hear the difference if I was in the audience.
The big problem with wood stability is abrupt changes in moisture content. The end grain is where the vast majority of moisture is transported in and out of the wood, so reed slots are very exposed to the problem.
Chromatic harmonicas have a lot of end gran exposure.
Wood will adapt to small or slow changes in moisture content from natural humidity or breathing… but very few species can withstand going straight into an oven, unless the wood is already bone dry. Most woods will suffer, or possibly split over time from being moved a lot from dry air conditioned space to high outdoor humidity and vice-versa.
I have several chromatic harps with wood combs and have never had a problem with any of them. I did seal two of them (just the slots) with shellac because I was packing them around a lot. I bought a wood 265 double bass harmonica a few years ago. I ended up buying another bass with a plastic comb in part because I wanted the worry free material for packing on road trips and playing around the campfire…
If you like the idea of the classic wood comb and don’t expect the severe exposure issues, I wouldn’t worry about it. You could also simply dismantle the harmonica and seal the wood. But if you have no favoritism for wood, I think a plastic, metal, or composite is a more practical choice of material.
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It's about time I got around to this.
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jbone
2960 posts
Jul 04, 2019
4:54 AM
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To me one issue was definitely the swelling of the wood comb on a MB or Blues Harp. These days sealing is possible and doable so to me the problem can be easily solved.
There are guys making combs out of several different materials too. Corian, lucite, exotic woods. I have yet to make a choice that direction, not because I doubt their quality, but economics. And to me, if it works why fix it!
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Music and travel destroy prejudice.
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Thievin' Heathen
1145 posts
Jul 04, 2019
11:09 AM
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Somewhere I read that peach wood was used in early harps and I believe this to be correct. I have a couple a very old 10 hole diatonics and some mouse ears with combs that appear to be much more dense and less porous than pear wood. Those 270's sure do crack though. I just can't see buying a new one when theres the Suzuki and Seydel options. I wonder if the new ones use the same sealing process I see on new MB's?
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SuperBee
6048 posts
Jul 04, 2019
1:46 PM
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I think the deluxe 270 may be sealed. Can’t quite remember.
I just bought a new wooden comb for my 260 restoration. Beautiful comb.
My customer wouldn’t hear of changing his 270 comb. He was very firm on that point. He wanted it repaired or a new comb of the same type. He’s adamant nothing sounds like a 270 except another 270.
Personally, my 270s both have power combs.
Yes, peachwood was used before pearwood.
Last Edited by SuperBee on Jul 04, 2019 1:47 PM
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