geordiebluesman
8 posts
Apr 18, 2008
2:36 AM
|
hi harpers,heres a question for jeff,when you get old harps off e bay are you getting new ones or used ones?,coz if i'm honest i'd be a bit dubious about sucking on something that has probably spent three year in a trench stuffed up a squaddies kakis!.also what do you search under on ebay?to find your pre war harps,i must admmit though,joking aside, i would love to own and play a harp with a bit of history and heritage,and if it's cheep as well then happy days!CHEERS GEORDIEBLUESMAN
Last Edited by on Apr 18, 2008 2:37 AM
|
Jeff
64 posts
Apr 18, 2008
8:32 AM
|
Well, there aren't a whole lot of "new" harps from 1940 left. You'll have to clean it yourself if you feel it needs it. Though you'll notice that 80% of the pre-wars on ebay are C's. It's obvious a number of them were owned by somebody who tried to learn for a day or two (maybe got it as a gift) and ended up putting it back in the box to never see the light of day again. A lot of the C's are in absolute pristine shape (even the box).
As far as cleaning goes, Jason Ricci swears by a product called Bam (he cleans his harps everyday). Randy at Genesis cleans all his old harps in an ultrasonic cleaner in alchonox which is then sprayed with sterisol. You can get sterisol at music stores.
Check out this page:
http://www.patmissin.com/ffaq/q38.html
It has high res photos of every angle of each version of the MB.
Just search for Hohner Marine Band and sift through each auction (there's usually only 2 pages). You'll have to determine when it was produced. There are a lot of obvious cues: the Mickey Mouse tabs, the star of David, the size and format of the text and engraving, etc.
When they are dry you can seal them with salad bowl sealer. Nontoxic and seals great.
Oh and don't bid on that D harp - it's mine, lol. ; )
Last Edited by on Apr 18, 2008 12:10 PM
|
geordiebluesman
9 posts
Apr 18, 2008
10:52 AM
|
dear jeff,thanx for that,i'll start the dective work asap CHEERS GEORDIEBLUESMAN
Last Edited by on Apr 18, 2008 10:53 AM
|
NG
7 posts
Apr 19, 2008
6:21 AM
|
Hey
I'm interested in getting some of this Salad Bowl sealer that you mention but I live in the U.K. I'm trying to work out our equivalent. What companies make this sealer in the U.S.?
|
NG
9 posts
Apr 19, 2008
3:15 PM
|
Thanks, I'll try that.
|
Philosofy
7 posts
Apr 19, 2008
7:10 PM
|
NG, a lot of salad bowls use mineral oil (the type you get in a pharmacy). But that doesn't really dry, it just soaks in the wood. Shellac might be a better choice, because it will dry and its non-toxic (they use shellac to coat pills.) However, if you use shellac, don't clean your harps with any alcohol, because that will re-dissolve the shellac.
|
Noblezadaxfan
14 posts
Apr 23, 2008
5:35 AM
|
hey all thx on all the advice on how to clean harps any advice on reeds can you clean them and if so how do i clean both sides of them?
|
genesis
10 posts
Apr 23, 2008
11:44 PM
|
A word of warning: Dont use more than 1/2 a teaspoon of alchonox to a quart of water. Its strong and needs to be rinsed off well. Its not toxic but contains trace amounts of sodium carbonate. Its expensive too. Oh! And dont clean bronze plates with it. Wont damage them, but turns em an ugly orange and blood red color. Dont ask me how I know.
I got a pre war on Ebay and looked it up at Pat Missins site. It was one of the earliest made. Actually the first one shown in his list, and it plays UNREAL. The strange part is that there is no offset to the reeds. No curvature
whatsover. The reeds are dead flat. The tips are almost below the slots and it responds great to soft and hard pressure. Also the reeds were not tuned with a file.
They have very fine scratches from root to tip. Deeper at the root fading into nothing at the tip. And the opposite
for raising the pitch. I looked at the slots with a 10x loupe and they look like they were made with a rat tail file. Very ugly. But it plays BETTER than any OTB harp I have ever played. I am studying these reeds in a very obsessive manner now. I need a microscope or I shall very shortly go blind. If your pre war has nickle plated solid brass covers DO NOT try to straighten them. The nickle
will pop off. The comb is flat but the tines are a mess.
Im debating putting the goods on a Corian comb. I know!!
Sacrileige (sic)you say? They do it to classic cars all the time.
Last Edited by on Apr 23, 2008 11:49 PM
|
