Re: longevity of custom harps

["M. N." <mnessmith@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob wrote:
"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!!!"

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I wonder if this is a case of built-in obsolescence? I mean, say you're a 
Hohner player who buys 20 harps a year. Then Hohner finally sees the light 
and upgrades from their crude, oudated method of gouge-tuning the reeds. All 
of a sudden your harps are lasting him twice as long and you're only buying 
10 harps a year ..... Hohner makes less dough.
I know that -- in what I suspect were responses to customers' demands -- 
Hohner has made a lot of upgrades to their line of late. For instance, they 
began assembling the Golden Melodies with screws instead of rivets. They 
adjusted the tuning on the Marine Bands to something closer to the just 
tuning of old. They introduced the MS line and concept as an option for 
players who want to replace reed plates and mix and match components. And 
their quality control has really been quite good of late (I can't remember 
the last time I got a bum Marine Band). Yet it's frustrating to know that a 
whole bunch of skilled customizers have identified this gouge tuning as a 
primary reason that reeds go flat before their time, yet Hohner seemingly 
has no plans to address this defect.
MN

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