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Jews Harp (jaw Harp)

I know it is along way away from a CBG. I would like to know if anyone has made a jews harp (I am making one now out of steel) and if there any good DVD or instruction manuals on them. I have watched some instructions on Utube but they didn't help me.

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Permalink Reply by Naz Nomad on October 23, 2012 at 12:08am

http://www.ehow.com/how_7293077_make-jew_s-harp.html

Might be worthwhile researching how to make a Kubing as well? (basically, an Asian jaw harp made from bamboo)

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Permalink Reply by Redbelly on October 23, 2012 at 12:50am

I have one already. I find it hard to get any volume out of it, I have the brass Viet. one as well and find it very easy to get good volume. The brass is supposed to come from spent US artillery ordance left over from the war

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Permalink Reply by Ben on October 23, 2012 at 9:01am

I was given one as a present once and couldn't get ANYTHING out of it. I was in a local traditional music store many months later and there were a bunch of them sitting by the register. The cool thing about these ones was that they were tuned...all the chromatic notes available! They were pricier than I wanted to spend, but I parted with the $25 partially to see if it was me or my first harp that was the problem. As soon as put it to my mouth, it started to sing. You can hear it on my recording of Dollar Bill Blues on the Townes Van Zandt compilation album here. I know it isn't about building them, but I so rarely get a chance to talk about it...

Also, over at the handmademusicclubhouse, a member is playing a mouth bow while singing at the same time. Same idea, different sound.

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Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on October 23, 2012 at 7:07pm

aaaarrgghh..the invention of the Devil! oww...apart from a chipped tooth i survived trying to learn this thing.....the more popular kind of mouth Harp is much easier (-;

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Permalink Reply by Redbelly on November 8, 2012 at 8:46am

Took the advice and spent a few dollars and bought a harp from the UK which was tuned to C. Easy to play and sounded great. Bought a CD from the USA on how to play, great. Bought a book from the UK on "Throat Singing". All I have to do now is finish the two I am making and learn how to tune them and put a lot of time into practice.