[Harp-L] G Suzuki Manji $40

[Joseph Bernard <bjosephmex@xxxxxxxxx>]

G Suzuki Manji $40 as is, played once, gapped once, free delivery to the lower 48 states.  Out of the box the Manji is too tight for anyone to play no matter how hard they blow or don't blow.  It isn't easy to gap, but I loosened it up a bit.  I would describe it as quiet and difficult to blow through rather than air tight, loud, and free blowing.  The channels are all different sizes because the comb is warped.    I've purchased a Harpmaster in G as a replacement.  If I can't sell the Manji I will work the tips off the welded reeds and re-tune it so it breathes a little.  Then I will straighten the comb and screw it back together before it goes warped on me again.  With a little luck I can turn it into a Harpmaster.  The lower channels don't overblow like you've probably read.  Listen closer, that is called a bend.  If you want to overdraw a Japanese harmonica, roll your tongue into a tube and draw through it like a straw, and don't bother with a Manji
 or just flat tongue a german harp.  The tight gap and the feel of a tight gap you get with the Manji's incredibly tight tolerances just don't work.  True, tight gaps help you over-draw, or whatever you call it.  That combined the ability to write your own music, or emotional temperment to play pure covers, will make you sound better.  Harpmasters, BluesMasters, ProMasters, Pipe diatonics, and rebranded Suzukis are included among the class of reasonably good diatonics.  Don't let me scare you away from any of them.  It depends on how you play.  Tuning your own also helps.  The air tight feel you get with a tight gapped harp is a product of your imagination.  It's not air leaking out of a comb for a lack of eight screws.  You have to blow some air through a harp to make it function.  I have a $40 lesson for you right here.  The Manji is going the route of the Overdrive into the ash heap of marketing history.  Don't argue with me.  Just take this pig off
 my hands and give me $40, no returns.  There are people who say they love it?????  I call it a design defect.  Put your money where your mouth is and leave me alone.  I'm a non-poster.