Re: [Harp-L] B-Radical -- why is it great?



I agree. I find it hard to imagine a company starting up from scratch when other companies had been in business for 178, 53, or even 16 years, already had the machinery and a huge archives of notes, formulas,
metalurgical processes, etc. I draw an analogy between this and wine. Old wineries can set aside a certain small number of bottles from good vintage years and sit on them. New wineries (like the fledgling American wineries) were intent on selling their wine as quickly as it was bottled. Ergo, used to be that there were NO vintage American wines. 

So, the Harrison venture had to operate with what they had..monetarily wise. And the monetary factor came from investors. And that's what the customers became. Not customers but investors. Unfortunately like some ventures, the capital (money was the water) was siphoned off more quickly than it could be beneficial for growth. And the project withered on the vine..so to speak. 

smo-joe 

On Mar 9, 2016, at 11:20 AM, Arthur Jennings wrote:

> 
> Harrison's problem was that he pre-sold hundreds (thousands?) of harmonicas at a price that turned out to be below his cost of production. Dave Payne wrote "The price was set before they actually knew the true cost of making it. I don't think we (I was there at the time) really had a true understanding of that until well into 2010 and the backlog was already there. "
> 
> It seems that the plan was to secure enough financing to clear the backlog and then a) raise the price on the B-Radical high enough to secure a profit and b) introduce a cheaper to produce harp to meet demand created by marketing. However, not surprisingly, money people didn't want to back a fledgling company already committed to making and selling hundreds (thousands?) of harmonicas at a substantial loss.
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>> On Mar 9, 2016, at 4:56 AM, The Iceman <icemanle@xxxxxxx> wrote:
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>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> <<From: Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>> 
>> I think his engineering was ok. I think he was probably let down by suppliers. I heard a rumor that some suppliers delivered parts that were not up to spec. and then wouldn't make good on them. By either replacing them, adjusting them, or giving a refund or credit. His initial contracts were probably too trusting and not iron clad. 
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>> smo-joe>>
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>> Biggest issue was bank pulling financing rug out from under him.
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