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From: elderel~ol.com
Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 04:50:51 -0000
Subject: ....===Golden Mels and comb related info===
I play the GM for the particular tone and responce that it has over other harps. I have tuned them all to just intonation, valved the top end, gapped the reeds, and adjusted them to my playing style. I have also tried the Micropore... but dont realy see a difference. I was tinkering on one earlier, and I had a few different types of combs from different harps laying around. Although the thread on comb material sounded so mixed on opinions and any substantial evidence either way, I notice that harps DO sound different,and there had to be good reasons for this. I asked myself, self , why does the Golden Mel feel/sound better to me? Well I picked up the combs.. looked at how they were made, and what size channels versus another..didnt see enough to decide... not knowing how this has been thought out. I think that it does have a slight contribution to the overall sound. What caught my attention was that the GM comb was heavier and seemed more solid. The other two combs I were fo!
cusing on were the special 20, Big river, and the Lee oskar. I was told that the composition of the reed alloy is about the same for most harps... I would think especialy for Hohner. And I remember that Joe Filisko makes his harp combs out of brass(at least the one I read about)... and the Holy grail is made out of some kind of alloy. And I am sure there are all kinds of diverse things going on of this nature. Why? Does it really make a difference? Drum symbols are made out of metal...not hard plastic... and you see how that thought would play out. Try putting a hard rubber/plastic nut on a guitar...then a brass/silver one.I know that the choice of materials will make a difference. Even the covers and the amount of space underneath them.
I believe that every thing in a harps construction makes for its finished performance and playabilty. What got me to thinking about all this was the micropore sealing I have been doing. I think that yea...it makes it slightly more airtight... but I believe it absorbs some of the reverberence(?)and clarity because the reed plates arent making a hard and close/tight connection to the comb. I have listened very closely to some harps in the same key,make, and adjustment, that one was gasketed and the other,not. There is a notable difference. I would love to get some combseither electroplated with silver/brass or some solid combs for my Golden Melodys.
Just mulling some ideas around and postN them for everybodys opinion.
...Pete