Posted by Stan Besaw on December 27, 2001 at 02:28:19:
In Reply to: Breaking in new harps posted by Rod on December 17, 2001 at 14:25:55:
Stick with good quality plastic combed diatonics and you DO NOT need to break them in. Life is short, play them. The "breaking in" myth is left over from the 60's when the only diatonic available was the wood combed Hohner Marine Band. Breaking them in meant playing them enough so that the cheap Pear wood comb would swell from moisture and thus become more air tight and easier to play.
Stan
: I learned a way to break in new harps that I thought I'd share. Just hold the harp outside the car window or clamp it on to a mirror (egual time for blow and draw side)while driving down the freeway. I tried it and it seemed to have worked pretty good. Do not try this in heavy bug country. Supposedly this idea came from the Willie Nelson movie Honeysuckle Rose.