longevity of custom harps

[<yeehaw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Everyone,
Some good comments were made compairing the longevity of Oskars's to
Hohners and about the longevity of custom harps in general.
Although I am definetly a Hohner Man, I have to admit that Oskars
last a long time, and their system of reed plate replacement revolutioned
the industry. I used to swear by them until overblowing became a very
important part of my playing. Back in 1992 in Elkins WV,
the last of the 7 years that Howard Levy taught the advanced harmonica
class for a whole week, 8 hours a day! Anyway, I went there with a box of
Oskars and when I left I put them away and switched to Hohners.
That was some experience! Carlos Del Junko, Sandy Weltman, The Iceman,
Gary Green, Your's Truly, a guy named Phil that was a former Hohner tech,
Howard Parks,  and a bunch more of really good players.
If anyone was there who is reading this that I did not mention, please
email me! That's where I first learned how to replace reeds. The old
fashioned way with rivits.
Anyway, I know that you can make Oskar's overblow with turbo tape, but if
you play chromaticly on a diatonic harp, Hohners will work much better,
IMHO.
Tim Moyer commented, and I since I did not save that digest I will try to
paraparase. I think he said something to the effect that it was not so
much what the customizer did to extend the life of the reeds, but that a
better balanced instrument that you did not have to fight with, would
allow the player to be more gentle to the instrument.
While there is allot of truth to this, I actually do things that make the
reeds last longer. Since each customizer has a different process, even if
they were origionally trained by someone, at least I was, we are always
trying to improve our work! Usually it's a little thing that you figure
out, but after years of doing this full time, all those little things make
a big difference.
I made an offer to extend my unconditional guarantee from 30 days to 6
months for 3 days. Someone jokeingly commented that I was a shamless
whore. (I hope it was a joke?) Anyway, I used to offer extended warentees
and a longer guarantee, and the only reason
I changed that was because it became too hard to keep track of! It was too
much to remember who had what guarantee on what harp, as unorganized as I
am. 30 days is much easier to remember. It had nothing to do with the
product!
My friend Pat Missin (Hi Pat) made a good point about the way Hohner tunes
their reeds.
IF ANYONE FROM HOHNER IS READING THIS, IMHO I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS THE
BIGGEST PROBLEM CAUSING PERMATURE REED FAILURE ON AN OTHERWISE EXCEPTIONAL
PRODUCT!!!
Anyway, some of us have figured out how to fix this and that harps still
last a very long time!
All the best,
Bob Meehan
145 Keenan Ave
Goose Creek S.C. 29445
843-670-3154
web site bobmeehan.net