Hohner MS

[Steve Price <sprice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Does anyone else think that Hohner's MS system is a poorly conceived, badly
executed disaster?  I'm new to the list, so I might be going over well-trod
ground, but here goes:

I've been playing Hohner harps for 30 years, esp. Marine
Bands, Blues Harps, Golden Melodies, Special 20s, and my new favorite was the
Cross Harps.  The plastic comb completely surrounded the hole, as with the
Special 20, instead of having the reed plates stick out, like the Golden
Melody.  With the new MS harps, they all universally have the reed plates stick
out.  My experience is that they are not very tight harps, and I had to return
a whole lot of new harps to Hohner for adjustment, which defeats the purpose of
having less labor involved in the manufacture.  The adjustment cannot make up
for the new bad design.  If they are committed to this, I'm leaving Hohner for
good.  I'll pay for a good harp, if labor is involved, or whatever.  I didn't
mind the River Bank Harp for people who wanted a lower end harp.  But I'll pay
$40 bucks or more, the price of the old Cross Harps.  But I won't pay half that
for a bad harp, and this new system is a terrible design.  

When you find an instrument that works for you, you don't want it completely
redesigned down, backward, worsened.  Given the improvements of the original
Cross Harp, I won't go back to Marine Bands.  I'll play those if there's
nothing else, but the designs have improved too much for me.  I'm not going to
be loyal to Hohner when they are so disingenuous as to completely ruin an upper
end product.  I'm likely to spend more on harmonicas in the next few years than 
I have on a new solid top guitar.  Hohner has lost my business, at least until
they fix this terrible design.  

Also, I have to say, the Blues Harps I've seen recently look like the shoddiest
products I've seen from Hohner.  I don't know what the cause might be, but the
ones I looked at looked like there were no longer made in Germany.  

I go on like this because this is my main instrument, and I'm upset.

	Steve =#####= Harmonica Price!