Re: [Harp-L] custom harps

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Rainbow Jimmy asks, "Since I'm fine with Lee Oskars and have no experience with custom harps, what do I fix and how do I know when it is fixed?"

Ask yourself these questions:

-- Could the harp take less wind to play, or feel not so leaky?

-- Could the reeds deliver more volume for less effort?

-- Could the reeds all respond evenly to the same attack?

-- Could the bends be easier to initiate, to sustain, to play with good volume and tone, and to play at precise pitch?

-- Could overblows and overdraws be easier to initiate, sustain, and bend up in pitch to put them in tune?

-- Can I get rid of those annoying squeal or rings that sometimes happen for no apparent reason?

-- Could the individual notes sound like they're all in tune?

-- Could the chords sound sweeter and bigger? (Those HUGE chords that Joe Filisko plays are partly technique, but also partly how the notes are tuned to make a resonant chord.)

-- Could sharp edges be smoothed off?

-- Could mustache hair-ripping cracks be filled in?

-- Could covers be reshaped for easier gripping, to deliver more sound, and to keep low-pitched reeds from hitting the covers when playing loudly?

I don't cover all these topics in Harmonica For Dummies, just the easier ones to deal with. But all are questions worth asking, and at least some of them will be of interest to just about any player. Select the ones that interest you, and if you keep these questions in mind as you peruse the resources out there, you'll find a lot of good information.

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5