KevinS
8 posts
Dec 05, 2010
2:16 PM
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I was recently gapping reeds on a SP 20 and began to wonder if the plastic bar running cross ways to the air passage has any affect on the playing characteristics of the instrument. Has anyone experimented with removing them? Would it make the 20 closer to a Marine Band or any other harp with an open wood comb?
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tookatooka
1905 posts
Dec 05, 2010
2:20 PM
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People have removed those before. (They are called sprues) and there has been no noticable difference. ----------

Last Edited by on Dec 06, 2010 7:51 AM
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the_happy_honker
48 posts
Dec 05, 2010
2:25 PM
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Harp technician Kinya Pollard advocates removing them (they are only there to stabilize the plastic comb in the cool-down phase after being removed from the mold). I did so with a couple of mine, but could not discern any difference in tone or playability.
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isaacullah
1271 posts
Dec 05, 2010
2:28 PM
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Use the forum search, and you will find several old posts about those sprues. Opinions differ, but IMO, it is worth it to remove them just to make it easier to adjust gaps with a gapping tool without having to remove reedplates from the comb. ---------- --------------------------------------
View my videos on YouTube!"
Last Edited by on Dec 05, 2010 2:29 PM
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nacoran
3353 posts
Dec 05, 2010
2:33 PM
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I've wondered what would happen if you did kind of the opposite. Assuming the sprues are a good indicator of where the reed doesn't swing, I wonder if extending the line back from the sprue up to the middle of the hole and to the bottom back of the harp on a diagonal line if you couldn't make a variation of the discrete comb that wasn't quite so thick.
---------- Nate Facebook Thread Organizer
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tookatooka
1906 posts
Dec 05, 2010
2:38 PM
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Great Minds Nacoran. It would be easy to try if you had some thin plastic material the correct width and glue it onto the sprues on the draw plate side of the sprues. One day I may give it a go. Maybe just a couple of holes should prove the point. Or not.
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Last Edited by on Dec 06, 2010 7:51 AM
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isaacullah
1272 posts
Dec 05, 2010
2:47 PM
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That's sort of like a Knitlinger comb, except it would be for a single reed harp, not a double reed. ---------- --------------------------------------
View my videos on YouTube!"
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chromaticblues
355 posts
Dec 06, 2010
5:30 AM
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@KevinS I did it about fifteen years ago thinking it had to change the tone somehow. I din't notice any difference and it was a lot of work!
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ridge
129 posts
Dec 06, 2010
7:06 AM
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I tried it on one SP20 on hole 2. I actually thought it played worse after I did that. I just leave them the way they are now.
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