[Harp-L] RE: blown out harps

["Bill Otten" <harpman54@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rick Davis asked: 
>For you who play amped harp on a regular basis, I have a question:  How
>often do you blow out a reed in a harp?  How many harps do you buy per
>month?  Do you write your harps off your taxes?
>What can we do to lessen the costs?  Play softer.  Take better care of our
>harps.  Learn the Zen of Harmonica Maintenance.  What do you suggest?

Well Rick....in over 15 years of playing semi-professionally, I have had ONE
(1) reed break on a harp. 
And I don't play lullabys and minuets either. Amped harp, and therein lies
the secret...let the AMP do
the work. Tight cup around the harp, around the mic, everything goes into
the amp. Yes, I do blow harp
with attack, and do bear down, so maybe I've been lucky? But I simply
haven't blown out but a single reed
in that time. I do break the harps in slowly, keep them clean (but not
obsessive about any cleaning schedule),
and that's about it. I haven't bought a harp in over a year or longer and
don't write them off my taxes
because harp playing isn't my work gig...it's a pasttime for me. I'll be
interested in what others have to 
say because I'm sure my situation isn't typical. I can't even pinpoint my
harp durability to a single manufacturer
either, because in my stage case you can find Lee Oskar's, Hohner's, and
Suzuki harps. I CAN tell you that I
valve a lot of my harps, and there are valved models of each of the above
manufacturers in my case. I bend a LOT
of notes so I'm certainly not shy about playing hard. 

Bill Otten