Returning a chromatic?

[Winslow Yerxa <76450.3230@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TO: internet:harp-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Joe Terrasi writes:

>He suggests that Guitar Works may be in the practice
>of ordering in such massive bulk that Hohner USA, Tombo, et al. have to
>increase production beyond their ability to control quality.

I don't think any one retailer, chain or no chain, could cause
Hohner to produce beyond their capacity, or Tombo for that
matter. Richard Farrell claims to be the biggest wholesale buyer
of harmonicas in the U.S., and he doesn't seem to tax the
harmonikawerke, or to have a high proportion of bad instruments.
(By the way, Hohner USA is a marketing company and does no
manufacturing - that's the job of Hohner in Germany).

But come to think of it, the most seriously defective diatonic I
ever bought I got at a "Guitar Hell" type of store (there was a
big horizontal gap between the comb and the top reedplate, making
it impossible to play a single note).

Another possible explanation (again, I haven't a shred of
evidence for this guess) is the practice of buying factory
"seconds" - instruments that don't meet quality control
standards. I know this goes on with acoustic guitars. They're
often sold off in lots and then either resold at a discount, or
sold to someone who will correct the defects (sometimes quite
minor) and resell the instruments. If the harmonica manufacturers
are selling off their assembly line rejects, nobody's going to go
through and repair them, but someone may very well sell them as
discounted new, first quality merchandise, and reap a nice profit
at the expense of unsuspecting consumers.