Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2017 0:26:28 GMT
Ok I’ll kick off the gear head talk. 99% of my harmonica playing is done hands free while playing guitar as a solo act, in a duo with my wife, or playing in my family band (The Homegrown String Band) I started out using the standard, flimsy, wire Bob Dylan type rack; it was constantly falling down and my hair would get tangled in the wing nuts that were not doing their job of holding the harp in place. The heavier Hohner rack was an improvement, but still had the same wing nut issues. I tried the Dunlop Harp Handle, it was the worst, totally unstable. Eventually I settled on a K&M rack that had knurled knobs instead of wing nuts. This worked better but it still tended to, occasionally, let the harmonica drop down out of reach. A friend of mine suggested the Harplock holder which magnetically holds a harp in place attached to an SM58 type mic. This device solves the issue of chasing the slipping harp, but it tends to get in the way of my vocals. You also lose the ability to move in and out of the mic to control volume and tone.
My wife who always called my harp rack a “torture device” decided to do some research to find a better harp rack. She contacted Pete Farmer, of Farmer Foot Drums, who was at the time working on a solution to the age old harp rack problem. I ended up getting Pete’s first Archtop harmonica rack. The Farmer rack locks into place, no slipping, and also holds the harp in place magnetically which allows you switch harps with one hand. For most of our gigs we use two AT-4033 LDC (large diaphragm condenser) mics and I use the Farmer rack. If we play someplace where the LDCs don’t work, like a noisy bar or pub, I use the Harrplock attached to a Shure SM58 dynamic mic.
Anybody else have any hands free harmonica experiences or solutions to share?
My wife who always called my harp rack a “torture device” decided to do some research to find a better harp rack. She contacted Pete Farmer, of Farmer Foot Drums, who was at the time working on a solution to the age old harp rack problem. I ended up getting Pete’s first Archtop harmonica rack. The Farmer rack locks into place, no slipping, and also holds the harp in place magnetically which allows you switch harps with one hand. For most of our gigs we use two AT-4033 LDC (large diaphragm condenser) mics and I use the Farmer rack. If we play someplace where the LDCs don’t work, like a noisy bar or pub, I use the Harrplock attached to a Shure SM58 dynamic mic.
Anybody else have any hands free harmonica experiences or solutions to share?
