Oisin
144 posts
Mar 21, 2009
7:49 PM
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Hey Chris,
very recently I had a lesson with a UK pro player and customiser called Steve "West" Weston. I primarily went along to see him to get some tips on playing but one of the other things I wanted to ask him was
what he actually did to his harps as I have a collection of about 15 old Hohner Super Vampers (the european version of marine bands up until the 70s) that I would like to seal the combs etc. I have never really done any customising but it's something I'd like to do one day.
However he advised me not to bother with it as the comb was probably dried out and it was cheaper to buy a new harp.
What do you think..are they worth trying to fix up? Most of them actually still play quite well but are a little leaky.
Oisin
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Buddha
163 posts
Mar 21, 2009
8:34 PM
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The older harps are best. I'm always looking for old harps to restore, so YES do you best to restore them. I'll help you however I can..
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Oisin
145 posts
Mar 21, 2009
9:10 PM
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Hey thanks for that Chris. I have been reading up a book called "How to make your harmonica work better" by Douglas Tate and although it deals mostly with Chromatics it does give some good advice on reeds etc.
One thing he recommends is to gently file all of the reeds down to get rid of any imperfections in the manufacturing process and then retune them. Is this something you would recommend also?
Oisin
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Buddha
165 posts
Mar 21, 2009
9:14 PM
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YEs. Doug tate knew what he was doing. I do most of what he talks about in that book.
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Buddha
166 posts
Mar 21, 2009
9:15 PM
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also do research on accordian reeds and customization.... all the secrets to this harp stuff can be found there.
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Oisin
146 posts
Mar 21, 2009
9:47 PM
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Thanks Chris, I'll have a go at that.
Oisin
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