Hour 1. Watched every customising video on youtube, learned the jargon and (supposdly :P) learned the process.
Hour 2. took apart the worst harp I had, and old MB in D. Did the thing where you make all the reeds level with the plate, and then set to work (epicly failing) at embossing.
Hour 3. Still embossing, learning to hate the plink sound. Every time I push the brass in, the reed gets stuck and I have to file. Very tedious. Gap the reeds and arc them.
Hour 4. Feeling very confident and pleased with self. Reasemble MB only to find that while the 2 and 3 hole draws work well, most of the blow notes stick, the 4 draw produces a high keening noise and the 1 draw rattles alarmingly.
Next 5 mins: Curse all harp modifiers including Joe Filisko, Richard Sleigh and Brad Harrison for their genius when compared to my ineptitude. Decide never to mod agian and to BUY custom harps instead.
Anyone else have similar experiences? ---------- "Blow as thou pleaseth"
Last Edited by on Aug 28, 2009 12:24 PM
Ahh..there's no feeling like the first time. She's just as nervous as you and hard to get into. You rub too hard in all the wrong places and not enough in the right ones. You walk away slightly embarassed at how bad it went, but then again, there had to be a first, and you'll never forget it either.
It does get better the more you do it.
Yes, I'm talking about customizing harps. What did you think I was talking about?
i was workin on a GM for 3 months or so before i finally figured out how to make it work right. now i can fix up a harp alot quicker. next i gotta learn how to tune. thats where it gets real hard.
jon, maybe its late, maybe its too much wine, but I read your comment as "i was workin AT GM for 3 months or so before i finally figured out how to make it work right."
So I'm thinking, no wonder they went bankrupt and needed a bailout! :)
I highly recommend buying just a couple of cheap used MB's on ebay to practice skills on. You will get it and you can learn on cheap MB's before you modify new ones.It also gives you a stash of reeds, plates, nails(if you aren't going to drill, Baby, drill)cover plates ect. As always clean the harp thoroughly with alcohol upon receipt, I even clean new harps with alcohol, I've heard music store stories of trying out harps after closing time.
Last Edited by on Aug 28, 2009 10:39 PM
OK, so the most important thing is you took the first steps in fixing your own harps.
You didn't fail, you had some success. You managed to get a couple of the reeds working.
Now comes the hard part.
Keep on trying don't give up. Use that harp you have as your learning model. I promise you that if your patient and keep trying you will learn how to do at least some basic customising to your harps.
Who knows you may even become the next Joe Filisko or Joe Spiers.
Ask questions of people who know how to do what you want to do. Seek out harp players that customise thier own harps (plenty of harp players in Bristol). Go to the NHL convention in October in Bristol and attend a workshop if they have one. If not go anyway and just ask people to give you some tips.
Nothing in life is ever learnt overnight. It all takes time. But if you apply yourself and keep going then you will get better.
Don't go rushing out to buy custom harps just yet.
It's way better for you to learn how to do them yourself. Then in a couple of years buy some custom harps and see how close you have come to them.
When I decided I wanted to work on harps, this is the advice Richard Sleigh gave me:
"Learn how to replace reeds, and replace lots of them. The rest will follow."
So here's my advice to you. Find a harp player with a stash of blown harps he's willing to part with, then fix them. Forget embossing, work on gapping. Embossing is not as important as getting the right shapes and offsets. Can it help? It can, but not unless the other stuff is right. Work on it first.
thats exactly how I got started with Dick Gardner when I was 16. I replaced reeds in everything I could and figured out how to make them work as well as the other reeds in the harp.
Cheers all of you was funny and informative, Buddha, will probably order a Zen from you and a stage 2 from joe spiers... will try and work on all old harps though. Harpwrench- I;ll try gapping an old A harp and post a video and some picks on youtube for inspection. ---------- "Blow as thou pleaseth"
Oh yes, you ought to be able to plink your way out of the 1 draw problem. If not, hold it up to the light. Usually when you overemboss, it is hitting on one side only and you can scoot the reed over without taking off your emboss.
You said you watched every customizing video on Youtube. So I assume you've seen this video, but you missed a very important step... Prewarify.
All I've done is take a harp apart to try to unstick a stuck 6 blow reed that wouldn't even pass air. To cut to the quick it was definitely an opportunity to invent new cuss words.
I too have stumbled, tripped and fallen down a long stairway here. I am bruised, battered, frustrated and at the end of it all, after buying and experimenting, I have $500 C Marine Band that plays somewhat well. The volume seems louder and it seems to play with less air. But then again, perhaps I am just hopefull for success.
Is there any reason why I should keep doing this?
So I can say I learned something and I can mod harps?
Hmmm, the jury is still out on that one.
So now I will ask, Can someone fill me in on the best (read easiest) way to get the reed plates off of the pearwood comb without snapping the comb? Other then the obvious terms of carefully, with patience etc.? Looking for some real guidance here. Thanks all.
Slip a knife blade in, and apply very gentle leverage until you get a slight (couple of mm) gap, then press the plate back so the head of the nail is protruding and gently pull it out with needle nose pliers or something similar. Don't try and do the whole lot in one go, do one nail at a time - it gets easier as you go round.
Hmm Jfllr1, tried that, broke about 7 combs trying it in many different ways too. I'm sure that there's a special touch needed but I am wondering if there's a way to get those little nails out without prying on the comb at all. It seems to me that they are like a ring nail. They bite in pretty good. I would think that prying is counterproductive to making sure the comb is straight too.
working on harps is real tedious stuff. i suggest a holiday in percostan after your first kill. one danger in embossing is getting too zealous with the shim and making a gouge in the reed slot. you can replace reeds but once you mess up the slot, into the parts box goes that reed plate and probably the whole harp. also be careful not to go crazy with the shim and undo the embossing you just did. hmmmm. it's painful learning this stuff but there is no feeling quite like making a real dog of a harp sound so good it rivals the sleighs and filisko's. it takes a long time and you drive people crazy and yourself crazy too. weird hobby. bad career choice. tedious. wouldn't trade these skills i'm learning. iv'e resurected the rusty relics of 30 years ago and play them today and they sound new or better than new. yeah..replace reeds..great advice. MP
Last Edited by on Sep 30, 2009 11:49 PM
never understood why people like marine bands. they are pretty much junk right out of the box. they don't work like the special 20s or the golden melody's. it wasn't until i played a richard sleigh that i went whoa!,this can be a good harp. of course there are some things to consider as to how to make the MB a good harp which might just confirm the opinion that it is junk. first you drill and tap so you can take it apart easily(i think it is held together with 22 nails) i don't know, maybe you like nails and want to keep all 22 of 'em. then flat sand the comb. then seal the comb. okay....now we can actually get to work unless the reed plates are old and you have to kaboom! them. i use soft scrub myself. then you have to gap, arch, emboss, and tune the little sucker. if you don't like sharp corners(never understood this either because when i play i don't notice that kind of stuff)you might want to round them. prewarifying the cover plates is fun cuz you get to hit the harmonica back. anyway...after all this work and more(i bevel the teeth of the comb like a marine band deluxe) why didn't i just buy a MBD? because sometimes you win and the result is awesome. so...maybe they are just junk. nah, see yah.
Last Edited by on Oct 01, 2009 3:10 PM
