From: Douglas Tate Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 21:33:15 +0000 Subject: Modular harps...
A holy grail is the modular harp!
Lets just take the diatonic... chromatics are another thing entirely.
Modular.... do we mean readily replaceable reed plates??? well that is relatively easy.. except that , in order to get the reed plate exactly in the right position for the ham fisted, a LOT of money must be spent on extras on the body and reed plate (and possibly different and foolproof ways of attaching coverplates.
Now what is the next step??? well obviously it is to have replaceable small two reed reed plates or single reed reed plates to 'slot' into the body. because of the closeness of each chamber, there is very little room to do anything clever with sliding into position, er... you have to slide in from the front so the reed on the inside does not interfere with the back of the comb... OK... you can reengineer that so there is a dovetail in the back... more expense.... How MANY different little reed plates do you stock... especially when people want to start experimenting with tunings.?
This is all VERY costly... a suggestion was made the other day tha screw in reeds (like Farrell) could be made easier to handle if an accurate slot was put in the reed plate to accomodate the reed pad and get the reed parallel... Great idea... if all of the reeds were EXACTLY correct and the same width and centered etc.
The person who comes up with the idea of a good modular system could make a lot of money... but... in my opinion, it needs a breakthrough of new thoughts around the subject...
I find it interesting that after years of virtually ignoring the anmateur player. that 'high quality , hand finished ' harmonicas may be an option from a major herp maker. Wonder if this could be anything to do with the buzzing of the flies of custom harp builders throughout the world proving the poor quality of the commercial product???
