[Harp-L] CUSTOM HARPS




Hi Everyone,
I've been following the thread on custom harps and thought I would put
my 2 cents in. I have been in business building and repairing custom
harps for 5 years. I make a living playing harmonica in a band and
working on harps. I have repaired allot of custom harps by different
craftsmen.
Some excellent and some not so good.
I can tell you that Filisko's and Sleigh's are the "name" brand, and are
concidered to be the best custom harps available. I personally own 9
Filisko's, one Sleigh, and one built by my good friend Neil Graham. All
of them are awesome instruments! All of these have have the important
feature that all the reed slots are embossed, and that each reed has the
right amount of "curl", also known as "reed profile". The harps that I
build also have this feature and I add a little more curl to the reeds
for those players that play excepionally hard and fast, like myself!
This seems to give the harp more "top end". (not reffering to the high
end of the harp but to "over 100 miles per hour", so to speak. If that
makes sense) I can tell all of you for sure, that NONE of the builders I
just mentioned use microphore tape on any of the harps I have ever seen.
 The other feature in the top quality customized harps is the incredable
amount of attention to detail in every aspect of the instrument.  Now I
am going to go out on a limb. It doesen't matter what instrument you
play, or your level of ability. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PLAY BETTER ON A
BETTER INSTRUMENT!!!!!!!
I imagine that you will benifit more from a better instrument the more
serious you are, but I believe that everyone would benifit somewhat. I
can also tell you that custom harps are not that expencive because they
last longer, my oldest ones are 6 or 7 years old, and when a reed goes
bad, it's easy to repair, for about $20. Another very important feature
of playing custom harps is the relationship between the musician and the
technician. If one of my clients blows out his favorite harp, I will
drop what I am doing to repair it because I know that harp will be
needed on the next gig!  I have also been able to help my clients figure
out techniques for overblows, overdraws, and basicly whatever you can
think of because I am also a harmonica teacher. All the best,
Bob Meehan




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