[Harp-L] Review: Joe Spiers harmonica repair service



Hi everybody,

I just got back five harmonicas I sent to Joe Spiers for service.  I was
really thrilled with how the harps turned out, so I figured I'd post a
review on Harp-L and on the MBH forum to help him spread the word about his
new repair business.

So I had been reading that Joe was changing his business over to a system
where he would accept new and used harmonicas for repair service, rather
than just customizing new harps and selling them.  This was interesting to
me -- I had a bunch of harps that needed help and I had never tried a
custom harmonica because of the high starting price; I make a decent
living, but with a five person family to feed I don't have a lot of money
left over at the end of the month for harmonica-related stuff.

I sent Joe five harps... three Crossovers and two Special 20s.  The
Crossover were mostly in decent shape, with a reed or two out of tune, but
the Special 20s were a lot rougher, with greatly uneven reed response and
leakiness. I wasn't sure what level of service each harmonica would need,
so I sent them down to him with a money order and a note explaining that I
wanted his opinion on which service would be best for each harp and I would
send them the balance after we spoke.  I emailed Joe to let him know I was
sending him harps and included some links to YouTube clips of my playing
style.

Joe got back to me once he got the package.  He had examined what I sent
him and explained that, in order to get all the harmonicas working equally
well and suited for my playing style -- mostly blues, tongue-blocked, a lot
of Sonny Terry-style chugging, with a medium breath force, no
overblows -- one of them would be fine with just the "stock" service, a few
others would require the "pro stock" level, and one would really need the
"super stock" service.  He quoted me the balance that would be due.  So I
okayed that and told him to go ahead.

The harmonicas were done pretty quickly and I gave them each a thorough
test.  The Crossovers were significantly better than new and the Special
20s were also up to that level (which is way better than when they were
new, too).  They really were stellar.  Beautifully even response from hole
to hole and from one harmonica to another, they are a joy to play.  When
you hear that the key to keeping your harps in tune is to learn to play
more softly, it can sometimes be hard to achieve that on leaky,
unresponsive harmonicas.  But with the serviced harps I can play very
softly and still sound full and lush.

I asked Joe to tune the harps to 7-limit Just and it's amazing what a
difference that makes if you're going for a vintage sound. Although, if
you're playing modern stuff, the 5 draw will seem a little flat.  But for
Little Walter songs, 7-limit Just is awesome.  I think the next batch I
have done, I will have some done in the regular Crossover tuning and some
done in the 7-limit Just, to suit the full range of everything I like to
play.

Anyway, I just wanted to encourage you to give Joe's repair service a try.
I found the investment to be very worthwhile; the degree to which my
serviced harps play better than new harps is remarkable.  The turnaround
time was very fast, and per harmonica the cost was pretty reasonable,
considering the value that I got back.  I will definitely be a repeat
customer. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions!

Bill Lifford







-- 
William Lifford, CP
Progressive O&P, Inc.
1111 Willis Avenue
Albertson, NY 11784
516-338-8585



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