Australian Customiser
I predominantly play Suzuki Manjis but decided to splash out and have a harp customised. Neil Graham ( http://www.neilgraham.com.au/ ) was recommended to me. Neil is a Hohner affiliated customiser who lives on the south coast of NSW so if there are any Australians on the forum, I can recommend his work. The base harp is a Marine Band Deluxe. Needless to say I am very happy with the result. Great work and many thanks Neil.
Ben Hope this helps. The customisation involved getting the comb airtight, Modifying the holes by raising them with a smooth material. Looks like a type of plasic, sealed the comb, gapped the reeds, tuned, embossed and modified cover plates. When I work ut how to attach a photo I will post a few. HMMMM sorry cant figure it out. It shows up at my end but when I save it is lost. Any suggestions would be appreciated
Only suggestion re the pics is to check that they are saved in a compatible format for the site eg jpg.
Sounds like you had quite a bit of work done to it! What type of mods did you do to the cover plates? I love the sound of the MB deluxe, but struggle with the vents on the ends of the covers.
Ben yes I have tried to drop the jpg images into the workspace. I am a photographer and do a bit of this sort of stuff but it's got me beat. When I view the post in edit the images are there. The cover plates (not MB Delux) are moulded to stop reed rattle at the longer reeds . If you view his web page to describes what is done.
ps The medium for the mouthpiece is fine Mapingo dust and shellac. This is a very durable and moisture resistant ,non toxic material and can be refinished for many years.
Hi John,
Adelaide here, thanks for the heads up about Neil. What did you have done to the Deluxe? Care to share some photos, I'd be interested to see the harp!
Cheers,Ben.