Other web Sites
Harmonica Blues  Harmonica Amps
Harmonica Links Harmonica Pages
• Archives Home
• Years
 · 1992
 · 1993
 · 1994
 · 1995
 · 1996
 · 1997 		 · 1998
 · 1999
 · 2000
 · 2001
 · 2002
 · 2003
 
Web HarpL
Ebay Searches:
Amps:
Microphones:
Effects:
Harmonicas and Gear:
Harmonica Music and Instruction:

 

 

Harp-L Archives

[Previous Message] [Next Message]
[Next in Thread]
[Start of Thread] [End of Thread]

Date: Wed, 03 May 1995 04:46:53 -0500 (CDT)
From: JJTHAD~ife.uams.edu
Subject: timbre

Mike C wrote:
>I find a lot of
>difference between wood, plastic, and metal. I get a "bigger" sound from
>metal than plastic, and from plastic than wood; and prefer them in that
>order.

But I wonder if the difference would still be there if the dimensions and smoothness of the inner surfaces of the combs made of wood, metal or plastic were identical? In discussions of metal vs. wood flutes, those factors were "blamed" for the differences. Not everybody agreed, however.

>Even Meisterklasse and Suzuki ProMaster, both aluminum bodied
>harps with very similar cover plates and similar size reeds, have
>different sounds.

This is an example, I suspect, of reed differences. Alloy, dimensions, and weight/springiness. If you have a micrometer, it would interest me to learn how a like-tuned reed from each compares in width, length, and particularly thickness at both heel and toe.

>I find this noticeable even when the harp is amplified and driven into
>distortion.

Really? How about Marine Band or Blues Harp versus a Special 20 (wood v. plastic)? I THINK maybe I could tell a Lee Oskar from a Golden Melody, but the giveaway might be characteristics more complex than just the timbre of a single sustained note. If I turned up the volume on an already playing note from two models of harp, you think you could distinguish them blind?
-John T

-- mike