[Harp-L] MB vs MB Deluxe



Here are my observations based on a comparison of recently a purchased brand new stock MB and MBDL in the key of A.

I normally use S20's and tweak them myself by opening the back of the cover plates, burnishing, arcing reeds, gapping and smoothing the corners of the comb. My goal is decent playability. I have not played a high quality custom harp.

Physically- Compared to the MB, the MBDL has smoothed tines (?) of the comb and a thicker and smoother comb finish. The front edge of the reed plates extend less far past the comb and the reed plate edges are smoothed. The cover plate material appears somewhat thicker and the plates are opened in the back. Fasteners are screws, not nails. The reed plates, reeds and tuning marks appear identical to the MB, though the MBDL had closer and more consistent gapping.

There was a big difference in playing characteristics. I found the MB to be unpleasant to play because of air leak. The MBDL was responsive, smoother, more consistent up and down the comb, easily bent and agreeably tuned. The MBDL played better than the S20s I tweak myself, though the S20 was slightly louder. I found the reedplate corners of the MBDL were a bit sharp and filed them. Otherwise, I am not inclined to make any changes.

I worked on the MB by burnishing, arcing and gapping the draw reeds and gapping the blow reeds as well as I could without removing the reed plates from the comb. I also opened the back of the cover plates. This improved the MB greatly, but it was still not as good as the MBDL. Also, I found the MBDL playing surfaces to be more comfortable.

To me, there were important differences between the MD and MBDL, though I may have had an unusually bad example of a MB. The MBDL also played better than the stock and my tweaked S20. Not withstanding price, I would switch to the MBDL. But..... I'll stick with my self-tweaked S20 unless the MBDL price comes down.

Jim R





This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.