Re: hohner vs oscar vs 1923--Custom harps



Bob,

This is all good news.  I am certainly a candidate for this harp.  I really
miss the things that I could do harmonically with the old harps.  Perhaps I
can use this harp as way to populate my collection for trad. blues.  Of
late, I'm doing much more in the way of vocal accompaniament in a latin folk
setting, and so the LOs and SP20s I'm using are real good for this.

I wonder what the customizers think of this harp?  Perhaps thay can offer a
customized version of this harp for less since many of the time consuming
tasks in preparing the harp are already part of the initial package.  How
much this reduces the labor, I do not know, since there is much about the
customization process that have not the expierence to judge.

Thanks,

Howard Chandler

- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Maglinte" <bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Howard Chandler" <chandler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: hohner vs oscar vs 1923--Custom harps


>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Howard Chandler" <chandler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Bob Maglinte" <bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: "Pat Missin" <pat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 12:42 PM
> Subject: Re: hohner vs oscar vs 1923--Custom harps
>
>
> > Bob,
> >
> > Just to throw one more harp into the ring.  What's the accumulated
> > wisdom on the new Herring 1923.  After reading your glowing review on
> > the coast-to-coast site, I picked one up (in F) a couple of weeks ago.
> > I haven't played it that much but my first impressions have been good.
> > I'd like to try some other keys but this really does seem to be a good
> > way to get closer to a customised MB in an out of the box, reasoably
> > priced harp.  This would also seem to be a good choice for the budget
> > minded player who prefers wooden combed, just tuned harps, but can't
> > justify the full customization costs.  I'd like to hear the opinion of
> > others who've played this harp and what sort of issues might be involved
> > in tweaked them.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Howard Chandler
>
> Hi Howard,
> In some ways, a Hering Vintage Harp is SOMEWHAT closer to a custom MB,
with
> a sealed comb, all held together with screws, (and for the traditional
blues
> player) the just intonation that Hohner abandoned in 1985. But make no
> mistake, a custom Marine Band, or ANY custom harp, as a general rule, will
> still be light years better than an out of the box instrument, but I do
find
> these play better out of the box and need less tweaking than the MB's. As
it
> uses the thickest stock reed plate of any diatonic (1.20mm, compared to a
> Hering Blues/Black Blues/Golden Blues at 1.07mm, and the Hohner MS Cross
> Harp reed plates at 1.05mm), bear in mind that with a thicker reed plate,
> the reed plays louder and more aggressively, and if you're the typical
blues
> player who smacks on them REAL hard 24/7/365, you run a very SERIOUS risk
of
> blowing them out real quick.
>
> The only things you may want to do in terms of  tweaking, IMO, would be to
> further open up the back of the cover plates (though in their stock form,
is
> clearly more wide open than the hand made Marine Band is already),
readjust
> the gapping if the factory gapping isn't quite to your liking, and if you
> don't like the sound of just intonation, retune it to either equal or
> whatever you may want. I've already been told by another player who
tweaked
> his that the reed slot tolerances on this is pretty tight, tighter than a
> stock hand made MB, and almost as tight as a LO.
>
> As for this being a good choice for players like myself who prefer a wood
> comb, the just intonation Hohner stopped using in 1985, and the idea of
> buying a stock harp whose wood comb is sealed from the factory, but can't
> afford the customization costs, it's a pretty good choice in terms of
budget
> and playability. Again, make no mistake, it isn't as good as a custom
harp,
> and until things change drastically (which I seriously doubt, based on
> experience), no sroick harp will ever be quite as good as a custom harp.
>
> I plan on doing a followup to my review on the Coast To Coast Music
website
> that will primarily deal with its longevity. So far, from what I've heard,
> these easily outlasted anything else (as far as diatonics go) they've ever
> made, and has also EASILY outsold any other diatonic they've ever made by
> nearly a 2 to 1 margin.
>
> Sincerely,
> Barbeque Bob Maglinte
> Boston, MA
>
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