apskarp
402 posts
Jan 22, 2011
12:12 AM
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Earlier I wrote some observations of my Buddha harps. I found that the OB's weren't as easy as in my own customized harps, although the overall playability was clearly better.
Well, after that I wrote some thoughts about the future of custom harps. I wondered whether it would be best to just concentrate on the general quality of the harps and leave the final adjustments to the customer himself/herself. After that I thought "Well, why won't I eat my own dog food and open up that Buddha harp and try whether I can make the final adjustments myself to suit my style better?" And I did.
Well, I must say that it was REALLY EASY to make those adjustments. I just closed the gaps on the holes 1, 4, 5 & 6 VERY little. And the result was unbelievable! I mean, now I really understand what Chris meant when he said that his harps play like nothing else. The OB's are SO EASY that you don't have to work to achieve those at all. You just think about those and they are there. :)
The needed adjustments were minimal. It took my 10 minutes to do those. I suppose many times people send customs back and forth just because the gapping isn't suited to their playing and then customizer does very little adjustments and then sends it back. Actually it would be easy to just educate the customers a little bit to do their own final adjustments..
So now the harp is really awesome. The overall playability was fantastic to start with, but as I wanted to use it as OB harp I was bit disappointed before. Now that I unleashed the full potential of this harp I'm not disappointed anymore. This harp ROCKS! :)
The funny thing is that there are no beeswax, nail polish or any other substances used to improve the playability. All is done by careful reedwork, really, really tight tolerances and airtightness. It is all inbuilt to the harp. Now I understand why Howard had said that Chris should ask for 300$ for this particular harp when he tried it out. This is absolutely fantastic instrument.
Now I also understand better why Joe S. was a bit pissed off about my earlier writings about custom harps not being that much better. But he was wrong, it wasn't my lack of technical skills that fooled me, it was just that the harp wasn't setup well for my playing. I assume it might be the long 4 month trip the harp made to here in Finland - perhaps it was stored in cold and hot storages which altered the adjustments a little. Or then my OB skills are in a level where the gaps must be little more narrow than that of Chris's. It doesn't matter - the harp is great and I take back every bad word I said about pro custom harps. You all should buy at least one of them from the top customizers, it will change you views on the playability of harp! :)
ps. The OB 1 that was difficult for me earlier is now ridiculously easy to get. I don't have to work at all to get it. In fact, I might sometimes hit it even accidentally when I don't think about it. Before I always had to work VERY hard to get those and even then it wasn't sure I'll got them..
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sim
5 posts
Jan 22, 2011
1:24 AM
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how does bees wax and nail polish alter the playability ? would love to hear you playing it on a video
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Greyowlphotoart
388 posts
Jan 22, 2011
2:27 AM
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@sim This is applied at the rivet end of the reed and can help to prevent air leakage at the sides of the reed where it enters the slot of the reed plate and also counteract torsional tensions both of which can otherwise contribute to that unpleasant squealing sound you can get on overblows.
If the reed slot is embossed well along the hole length of the slot the same benefits can be acheived without having to add any substances which may in themselves cause problems and also alter the resonance of the reed creating a slight deadening effect.
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Andrew
1294 posts
Jan 22, 2011
2:30 AM
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"The OB 1 that was difficult for me earlier is now ridiculously easy to get. I don't have to work at all to get it. In fact, I might sometimes hit it even accidentally"
Which is precisely the reason Jason gives for not worrying about the 1 OB.
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Andrew,
gentleman of leisure,
noodler extraordinaire.
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hvyj
1158 posts
Jan 22, 2011
4:39 AM
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I had to adjust gaps a little on some of my Buddha harps to get optimal response. NBD. I don't work on my harps at all but i can and do adjust gaps when necessary. And, even though i don't OB, the reality is that it's sometimes necessary to tweak the gaps on any harp--custom or OOB.
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RyanMortos
986 posts
Jan 22, 2011
8:28 AM
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Is it at all possible that the gaps were optimal but in the time it took to receive the harmonica they became slightly less optimal? I'm just being curious, I know he talked about plinking for hours and hours so this exact thing wouldn't happen but I assume it would be a possibility. I'd like to open up my buddha harp and take a look at it but I'm not sure where the tool is he sent. I guess I could find sets of them at Home Depot? If the one overblow on mine doesn't seem to happen that would point to the gapping on the one draw reed right?
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Stephen Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
Contact:
My youtube account
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apskarp
404 posts
Jan 22, 2011
11:36 AM
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@Ryan: Well, Chris told me in a chat that when he sent the harp it was really outstanding and was thinking whether something happened on the trip - who knows where those were stored and how handled. Unfortunately we never got to have the skype session we planned where we would have looked into it.
One thing that I have noticed with this harp is that the blow 4 has a slight ringing sound if the temperature is cold, but when played for 30 secs it stops. So at least the temperature affects the tolerances and I assume there will be some metal memory remaining even after plinking it for hours. The tolerances with this harp are really close since both the reeds and the reedplate are brass and still temperature change of 10 celsius (15C to 25C) will affect the tolerance so much that it can be heard..
If your OB1 isn't working it might become alive by closing the gap on 1 blow VERY little. If it's too close then the normal 1 blow will choke easily. I guess the better your technique the wider the gaps can be..
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Last Edited by on Jan 22, 2011 11:42 AM
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Joch230
393 posts
Jan 22, 2011
12:18 PM
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Ryan,
You can get the little allen wrench set at Home Depot for a few bucks. He has the inside of the harps put together with those as well. Nice as he only uses 3 instead of like 10 screws on an Eb Manji. I've had to retune 3 reeds on mine so far as they went just a little flat. Chris said that he made the harp he brought to SPAH this year really fast so there was time for the normal "settling" period.
-John
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RyanMortos
988 posts
Jan 22, 2011
12:47 PM
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apskarp, I'm sure in my case it is partially if not fully technique. I can overblow 4, 5, & 6. When I try on the one it doesn't seem to happen the same way then I use force and it's out the window, lol. Actually, the 1 blow on the Buddha harp I have does choke very easily. I have to concentrate my breath quite a lot to play the regular 1 blow. I kinda assumed this was (A) Part of good 1 overblow setup and (B) part of Buddha's magic in forcing the player to use less air. Maybe I'm wrong in assuming the same technique is used for 1 ob as the rest or maybe I'm not dropping my jaw, opening my throat, keeping the harp deep enough in my mouth.
Joch230, yeah I do recall Buddha mentioning that he was trying really hard to get the customs to everyone that ordered one at SPAH. Aside from the pre-SPAH concert just about every time I was around him he pulled out custom harp(s) for someone, lol.
I got mine a few months before SPAH just never got around to writing any sort of review. I was lucky enough to get skype lessons from him before SPAH, we were going to continue. All I know is that I've had lesson(s) from a bunch of different guys and sources and they way he taught was just totally different. I actually wonder if anyone else teaches that way but I doubt it.
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Stephen Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
Contact:
My youtube account
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apskarp
405 posts
Jan 22, 2011
9:58 PM
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For me it was helpful to try out different keys when I first practiced the OB 1. High harp keys are more similar to get the OB 1 as the 4,5&6 on lower keys. Basically it's way back on the throath in the key of C for example. Although I've found out that there seems to be at least two different ways to get it. One way I practiced it was to OB 6,5,4,3,2 and then 1. In that approach the position of mouth alters incrementally towards the OB 1.
Anyway, the OB 1 was clearly the hardest for me to learn - I think it took several weeks to learn even when all the others were already learned - and it's still the hardest to get. The other ones you can kind of "force" if you have to, but OB 1 you can't... ;)
Btw, I wonder what level of harps Chris sold at SPAH, I mean he had different stage harps - the harp called "Buddha harp" was the fully customized one but it is easy to get confused as he was called Buddha so I guess people will tend to think all of his harps were "Buddha harps".. I think he also had "Lotus harps" and "Zen harps" and something like that..
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Last Edited by on Jan 22, 2011 10:04 PM
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