Weird issue with Marine Band 1896 A harp
I'm a new player, just working on "level 1". I had a slight detour after starting on this while I worked on the mechanics of tongue blocking with a G harp and just pulled my MB 1896 A harp to start working on "Walk With Me".
I noticed something weird - the air holes, when viewed from the face of the harp, were uneven. In fact, the little wood pieces move back and forth pretty easily and I could adjust the spacing. But it moves out of position pretty easily too. Then I noticed that end of the comb also stick out unevenly when viewed from the side.
If I was going to speculate I'd guess that it's related to moisture in the comb -- but I'm not buying it. I haven't played it that much, and it hasn't gotten clogged from saliva (unlike the G harp while I was get a handle on tongue blocking). It's a relatively unused harp too, probably not even two hours of "air time".
I'm sure I'm not the only person to see something like this. The tip of the comb between 2/3 is out at least 1/16". I am thinking I'll order a zajac comb and tools and learn how to tune and tweak harmonics, which I've wanted to do anyway.
After leaving the harp on my desk overnight the distended ends of the comb have mostly shrunk back to match the others. Not completely, but that seems to indicate that it's somehow related to moisture.
Since I don't see this happening with my G MB1896 my theory is that it's a bad piece of wood that was used on the comb. Anyone who has done some woodworking knows that there are some pieces of wood that are more prone to warping or seasonal movement than others.
I ordered a crossover to replace it. I have a Lee Oskar A that I'm using today but it doesn't have the same sound as the MB.
I do plan to order a few tools and replace the comb and play with embossing and tuning on this thing, just not quite ready to spend the money on the Zajac tools and videos yet. Maybe as a father's day gift to myself :)
Yeah, I am not impressed with the comb on my 1896. Its so rough on the tongue. With nail construction it looks like a big pain to change it, which is a shame because it sounds and plays great.
I don't play these, but I think you're experiencing "swelling" of the comb. Some players will seal the comb. I'd check with Kinya before proceeding.
order a zajac comb ! You will 100% not regret it !!
You will need tools though. zajac has all the information (and tools for sale) youd need for this on his site and he's super helpful if you need help (not to mention you can ask Kenya here as well).
My marine band never had any issues and I still think my zajac comb made it MUCH better! (it's a job and a half to retrofit though)
Chris
I learned on Special 20s and then upgraded to Rocekts. Yeah, the whole wood comb sounds cool and the heritage is really great, but plastic fantastics don't warp. Get a Rocket and don't look back.
I've got one that went exactly the same way and also had been hardly used as I was mainly learning on Special 20s and Seydel Session harps. It was a shame because I really wanted to love the 1896 and thought it might make me feel a bit more like the Little Walters of the world, but I found it hard to trust them after it warped so easily.
However, I've recently bought a Marine Band Crossover and a Marine Band Deluxe which I'm loving and I've not had any problems. I wanted to wait until I could bend before buying the slightly more expensive ones as I believe that bending doesn't damaging the harp but learning to bend can (I think I learned that here - apologies if that's wrong)
Graham