Tryharp
9 posts
Oct 04, 2008
7:25 AM
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Hi Guys,
Ive been playing around customising marine bands using all the info on youtube. I seal the comb with bees wax. However when you dip the comb in molten wax it is hard to get the wax scraped off nice and flat once it dries, to get a nice tight seal between the comb and plates. What I tried this time was scraping it down as flat as possible, then screwing the plates on reasonably tight, then put in the oven at about 50-60 deg C to semi melt the wax again and create a seal, seems to work!.
( After mucking about with this a bit I have sort of come to the conclusion that the seal between the reed plate and comb is not that important anyway compared to the amount of air sucking through the opposite reed not beng sounded )
Jim
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tookatooka
12 posts
Oct 04, 2008
8:15 AM
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Haven't done any cooking myself always used plastic combs which are supposed to be pretty airtight. But, what you say stands to reason. If the reeds are not accurately sitting over the reedplate slot, and the reeds are not highly toleranced to be a good fit within the reedplate slot, and the arc is excessive - there's little point in having airtight, leakproof harps. Hopefully when we pay a little more for a reasonable harp, we should expect an instrument that has been built to finer tolerances.
Doesn't that wax flow into the reed gaps when it is cooked?
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oldwailer
225 posts
Oct 04, 2008
1:43 PM
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I used to use a heat gun that I stole from my wifes craft tools to warm the plates slightly when I put them back together. Now I use about 4 coats of salad bowl finish--then sand them flat on a piece of glass with fine grit paper.
I agree--sealing the comb to the reed plate doesn't seem to make a lot of difference in the airtightness of the harp--I think embossing seals a leaky harp better--but I am still just beginning to learn what all to do with harp customization.
For my latest experiment, I am taking an old Blues Harp that leaks like a spaghetti sieve and I'm going through it systematically doing everything I can think of with the information I have--I want to see if a mediocre harp can be born again as at least a decent harp. This will take a while, since I don't like to give up too much practice time for dicking with harps--but I'll be sure to report back if I get something interesting.
I'm also doing the same thing with a Big River--which I think is a better harp than the Blues Harps--maybe they can be made into something better--I'll see. . .
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Gray
28 posts
Oct 04, 2008
9:10 PM
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Hey tryharp
http://www.harmonicasessions.com/apr08/Pollard.html
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