BluTed
2 posts
Feb 02, 2009
10:49 PM
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New to this forum. Intermediate, SP20 fan, play mostly in the car, never without a harp. Seeing a lot of talk of and desire to try the expensive equipment early on. My twobits - check this... A few years ago attended a blues fest with a cool harp workshop worked in. Up in front of the hall was Norton Buffalo, Rick Estrin, Mark Ford, John Clifton (Mofo Party Band), and a couple of others. Question was asked - what do you play/prefer? There were a couple of MBs and a couple of SP20s and then there was Norton Buffalo - a player of supreme control and mastery - prefers...cheap Chinese Huangs. Buys them by the case, he said. Said essentially that when you play as much as he does, you burn through harps like crazy. $30 harps would burn through your wallet crazy fast. Point is, weekend golfers spend hundreds on Tiger's driver but the ball ain't gonna go straight and far without the experience and swing chops. Norton can obviously make them cheap tin toys sing.
Fill your case with finely honed custom tools if you are able, but, hone your sound as earnestly as you pursue the hardware!
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gene
126 posts
Feb 03, 2009
1:33 AM
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I'm not advanced enough to know, but my thoughts are:
A good harp won't make a beginner sound good, but it takes a good player to make a cheap harp sound good.
And a cheap harp is harder to learn on.
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wheezer
46 posts
Feb 03, 2009
4:26 AM
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Hi BluTed and welcome to the forum.
I did a repair to a Huang Silvertone for a friend, it was not a bad harp at all but I didn't find it very comfortable to play. What did take my interest was the Huang Star Performer which looks like a copy of the Hohner Golden Melody. I had to order from the U.S. as they are not available in the U.K. and I think it cost about $12.
The Star Performer is a chunky thing with very thick reedplates. Out of the box it did need a little bit of work. The 3 blow was a bit 'slow' and this was cured by opening the reed gap. While I had it apart I did notice that the finish on the plastic comb was not too smooth where it mated with the reed plates. This was cured by flating it with fine wet and dry paper laid on a piece of glass. I opened the back of the coverplates and, for the money, ended up with a pretty good harp. The only design fault, in my opinion, is that the coverplares are stamped Made in China on the lower coverplate around holes 2, 3, & 4 which is not very nice but i can live with that.
I have 50/60 harps inc. Hering, Lee Oskar, various Hohner, Tombo, Jambonne (my favorite F harp is one of these, it cost $4), Suzuki, Bushmaster and others.
The thing is that it is not always the most expensive harp that is the best.
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BluTed
3 posts
Feb 03, 2009
12:25 PM
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Agreed an extremely crappy harp can hurt early progress, but new players may blow out an expensive harp before they learn proper force and control.. There are many middle-to-good quality models to choose from. I turned my novice little brother on to SP20s a few weeks ago and he noticed a difference right away between them and whatever $8 model he initially grabbed.
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Bluzdude46
3 posts
Feb 04, 2009
6:03 AM
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I started on hohner Blues Harps almost 25 years ago went from them to Hohner Pro Harps, SP20's, Lee Oskars and Seydels. I'm back to SP20's and the difference is I learned how to work on my harps, closing gaps, re aligning bad reeds, re tuning ect. SP20's are easiest to pull apart and mess with. I've spent thousands over the years on Harps and played more poorly from them being out of the box. Everyone from Beginner up should go to Overblow.com and at least learn how to properly gap for better tightness and response. I wish I had learned it years ago. I have a complete set of all keys plus several minors with back ups on the harps I use most (in my vocal range I do vocals too) and I've had the same harps now for over two years they get taken apart, tune checked and cleaned once every other month or more and it's saved me an awful lot of $$ and frustration
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BluTed
6 posts
Feb 05, 2009
10:18 PM
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Started just last month attempting tuning, gapping, etc. Made some decent tools. No great successes to date but I'm a cheap bastard and hopeless doityourselfer so I ain't givin up. Got a pile of mostly SP20 parts to work with.
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Bluzdude46
6 posts
Feb 07, 2009
1:50 AM
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Ted
A trick that may help and something I learned from a guy in our Harp Club. a cheap set of jewelers screwdrivers are fine for assmbling and taking harps apart.
You don't want to use metal on the reeds (except file to re-tune, again cheap set of jewelers files is fine). Heavy duty Hors Duerve toothpicks are just the thing for pushing reeds where you want them. I usually "rub" the reed down to close the gap entirely then put a finger against 2/3 of it from rivet end up exposing the 1/3 you want to bend up slightly. the wood doesn't scratch the brass reed and I rarely need to re-tune it. Can't get more cost saving then that.
Last Edited by on Feb 07, 2009 1:55 AM
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Andrew
100 posts
Feb 07, 2009
1:58 AM
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Yes, toothpicks and cocktail sticks are useful. If you've taken the cover plates off so often that the nails are loose, then I read that you can break off the end of a toothpick (or maybe a sliver of wooden match) in the hole and push the nail tightly into that, but if others have different ways, I'd be interested to read them.
But for the reeds I just use the end of a 0.5mm propelling pencil (or a piece of paper, depending on whether I want to push them or pull them). I've started embossing my 1-4 draw holes (without taking the reed-plates off the harp) using the ball-end of a tuning fork. So far good results on my crappy Bb MB
Last Edited by on Feb 07, 2009 1:59 AM
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Bluzdude46
7 posts
Feb 07, 2009
2:05 AM
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I try to avoid harps with nails, screws are so much easier and you can tighten them better. Besides I like plastic combs better then wood anyway. Shame because I like the sound and feel of Golden Melody harps. someone told me they are changing to screws so you can replace reed plates, anyone know if that's true?
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Andrew
101 posts
Feb 07, 2009
2:51 AM
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Yes, my one GM has screws.
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BluTed
8 posts
Feb 08, 2009
9:11 PM
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I'm a 30yr precision machinery repair guy so I've got a good collection of small toolage. For the specialized stuff, cut the end off a small plastic handled screwdriver, then rounded/smoothed the tip to use as an embosser. Cut a .002 feeler gauge down for edge gapping.
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