Bought a Marine Band from eBay for a few pounds. I'm hoping it will be OK but quite understand that it may be duff but it's a risk I took.
I'm hoping to be able to fit the plates (if they are any good) into a plastic comb and use the cover plates, with a little modding.
If I can't fit the plates into the plastic comb and I'm forced to use the original wood comb, does anyone have any ideas on sanitizing said comb? I am a bit of a germ freak and wouldn't normally entertain this idea but I'm dying to see what the attraction of the Marine Band is for myself.
Ok well first things first you need to get that sucker cleaned up. Jason has a great video showing how to do this. Where Jason mentions "Purple Kaboom" use "Cillit Bang" it's basically the same stuff. I use it all the time on my harps.
For the comb the best way would be to use an old toothbrush to remove the surface crud. Then sand off the old finish, very light sanding is required with the finest sandpaper you can get. As you only want to remove the old finish not lots of material off the comb. Then seal it with either beeswax, a polyurethane spray varnish, or butchers block oil.
You may also want to reassemble it using screws instead of nails. If so then watch this series of videos. They describe the process in detail.
Thanks for the tips so far. I'm a bit concerned with that wood comb, it worries me. As Harpwrench said a Special 20 comb may be useful. I don't have one so will see if there are any available as spares on the web. ----------
Sand it off the crud, wear a mask so you don't breathe the stuff in, then seal it with salad bowl finish, butcher's block oil, something. Beeswax at your own risk. I stopped using it for a reason. Example from just this week, I was restoring a prewar Old Standby and installing an American Chestnut comb for a guy, the entire blow plate was out of tune because of bits of microscopic beeswax on the blow reeds, there was this green beeswaxy junk all over the insides. It works well at first. Over time, beeswax gets really, really, nasty. Beeswax is sticky and crud and heinousness sticks to it. In five years, you'll wind up with 5 years worth of crud inside.
tookatooka, I'm glad you posted this as I am thinking of putting in a bid in for a second-hand harp that I have seen on ebay myself, and like you I am a bit grossed out about who's mouth its been in previously.
Your plan looks good however, you say you’re dying to see the attraction of the marine band, if you replace the comb with a plastic Special 20 comb it may change the character of how it sounds. I am certainly no expert on this and don't really have an opinion, its just a lot of people on the forum seem to attribute the warmth of the marine band to its wooden comb.
I just thought this may be something to consider if you bought it specifically because you haven't played one before.
Last Edited by on Jul 14, 2009 2:43 PM
I say lick your toilet clean when it is really dirty. Then playing that thing won't seem very bad will it?
I also suggest throwing harpwrench's $5 harps in the toilet too. Cover plates on or off, the Marine Band has an awesome sound. Very unlike the $5 crap harps.
Should have mentioned...throw everything but the comb away, it's the best part of the crap harps. Use that to build a plastic combed Marine Band. The awesome Marine Band sound has absolutely nothing to do with the comb, it's the reeds and cover plates.
OK. Don't worry folks. Got the harp this morning and it's too far gone to do anything with. Should have known better but I'm only a few pounds down. I may be able to salvage the cover plates if I can remove the rust and I may be able to use the box once it's cleaned up. Oh Well. That's what I get for being a tightwad.
A couple of things I've learnt is how soft the reedplates are in comparison to my Suzuki's. How narrow and small the Marine Band is.
It can probably be saved. Usually the rust and gunk is all just on the surface. The reeds can normally be retuned and the comb can be saved, mended or in the worst case replaced.
Thanks Kingley, I'll put the harp to one side and mull over my options.
I've decided to stop this obsession with fiddling with harps. For me,it's a mugs game trying to find that Holy grail of harps. I think I should spend more time playing than fiddling, only then will I find what I'm looking for.
I've decided to settle on my stock harp and concentrate on that alone. In the future I will be using only Suzuki Reedplates and combs and either modded Harpmaster and Delta Frost coverplates. These are all easily available to me and reasonably priced.
Trouble is I can't help fiddling but I'll find something else to fiddle with.
Hmmm... I have TONS of butcher block oil around (I installed butcher block wood counter tops in my kitchen a few years ago), but I never thought to use it to seal harp combs. I assume you gotta give 'em a pretty good soaking in the stuff to make sure that they are fully moisture resistant. I know with my counter tops I had to apply the oil once a month for the first year, but now I only have to reapply once or twice a year. I assume it'll be the same with harp combs. Soak it a lot at first, and then periodically reapply as needed. As an aside, I currently have been using beeswax to seal my wood harp combs, and I have recently noticed the "green gunk" build up that Dave mentioned in his post... I don't really want to go with any kind of sealant (ie. salad bowl finish) for various reasons (mainly the mess and the number of times you have to apply it), so I think I'll be giving the butcher block oil a go.
clarification: Butcher's Block is traditionally, I think, pretty much plain mineral oil. The stuff I use, Watco Butcher Block Oil http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/browseproducts/Watco-Butcher-Block-Oil--Pint.HTML
Hey Isaac--you probably know this--but I'll tell you anyway--once you have used the wax on a harp--nothing else that I know of will stick--you have to replace the comb, as far as I know.
I tried a couple of different finishes, after cleaning the wax off as well as I could--didn't get a decent result at all.
The Salad Bowl Finish that I now use is available at www.generalfinishes.com --it works great, but I usually use at least three coats, and it takes a good full day at warm temperatures for each coat to dry, so finishing a comb isn't a really fast operation--but I just keep doing it and then work on the reeds while it dries.
It's a lot easier to just make a new comb out of a material that doesn't need finishing, in my opinion. . .
Last Edited by on Jul 15, 2009 5:19 PM
I sent that harp back for a refund. It was in a dire state. It had been soaked at some stage and the previous owner had cut the tines back. On drying out the tines then receded about 2MM into the reedplates. They had then coated the comb in purple nail polish. I wouldn't have minded buying a used harp as long it had been only lightly used and was in its original state but to say this was in good condition was fanciful. ----------
