[Harp-L] correction to my suspicions about Suzuki

[mik jagger <harpomatic@xxxxxxxxx>]

harmonica content: at issue here is a bit of misleading advertizing to our community 
of harmonica players, specifically to Harp-L, on Harp-L.  

As most of the members here, I consider Harp-L a kind of  digital "home", or "alma mater" and think more than twice about posting anything that may be unfairly inflammatory or offensive to fellow 
members here. However that does not (nor should) prevent me from 
responding negatively on matters that deserve an unfavorable response. 
This community is strong enough to handle a real, and not only 
sugar-coated discussion. The info shared here should ideally pass  an 
unwritten, but assumed "test" of integrity, truth, reality - this list 
is an old enough and respected enough institution, not just another list to us. So when I re-examine Brendan's vid, due to his uncharacteristic 
for him, "ruddish" remark - I realize the following: initially I was 
suspicious of Suzuki, not Brendan at all, and my interest was directed 
at Suzuki - "the company."  Having natural respect for Brendan, as a 
prominent deserving member of harmonica community, he was 

"not in the picture" so to say.  Intellectual property, as an idea is dear 
and near to our hearts, as artists and art lovers, not only as 
"customizers" or engineers. Thus here is another point of relevance to 
us on harp-l, this is not just "meta" discussion. So I went back to 
re-examining the video and now available articles, as apparently  
Brendan felt personally touched by my suspicion of "theft". Turns out 
Suzuki is nothing to be blamed for, on contrary they are indeed moving 
the progress forward. As hohner seems to want to abandon the xb40 
production, patent expiring, it is indeed great that someone (Suzuki) is taking on the challenge of advancing a great idea of tripple reed 
harmonica. See Brendan - I just want to get to the bottom of the truth, 
just wanting to know what the reality is. I was not initially accusing 
anyone - just inquiring. Upon the closer examination, though, it appears that it is 
indeed you, who are being engaged in a questionable practice of 
misrepresentation, to call it mildly. If we take your initial, 11:36 
minute long intro of your revolutionary design, with which you go back 
to 1989, as a 'stand alone" bit of advertizing - you did not find few 
seconds of time to mention Scarlett, Epping or Hohner. Instead, you 
appear to be the sole inventor. Now, in a real world, where we do not 
make immediate research on any statement by another individual, because 
we do not yet have microchips implanted in our brains to scan all the 
available data and do immediate fact checking, this thing that you did 
is called either false advertizing or plagiarism, when you claim someone else's fruits of intellectual, as well as physical labor. Add the poor 
quality of the harps, as opposed to you playing your customized versions without any disclosure... I do believe your reedwork will make a pocket pal sound great, I give you that. Sorry to realize 
that about you - until now you had my trust as an honest representative 
of Suzuki, one of "our own", so to say. 

Michael Korosty.
P.S. Guys, the annoying "Mik Jagger" thing got stuck with my Yahoo account 
since I first joined the "internet" age in 1995 - I was naive about it 
then, as well as did not want to give out my identity during those early days of the internet when nobody knew what it was yet. Some still argue that it would be wise to not disclose too much even today. In any case, I got nothing to hide, and changed it to my real name some time ago, as indeed i am not Mik Jagger, but the name still appears here - still trying to 
resolve it... On the other hand, there was more than one Sonny Boy 
Williamson, so I ask you for your patience...

P.P.S. See how false info leads to false assumptions - trusting Mr. Power, I 
initially suspected Suzuki - today, I'd just say "Seems like an old 
"universal" practice of stealing the intellectual property, currently 
rampant in Asia".  Being a semitic-asian myself, trust me, my sympathy 
is not unnaturally tilted towards Germans or hohner, rather towards the 
truth.