[Harp-L] Hering harps comments

[Captron100@xxxxxxx]

Just a quick comment on a discovery i  made last nite.  My brother gave me 1 
unused Hering Blues and 3 Hering  Black Blues harps that he had bought a few 
years ago.  Altho i was not  pleased with their airy playability, I am very 
impressed by their quality as  compared to the Hohner Special 20's I've been used 
to using.  
A  few comments: The Hering harps seem to have very thick reedplates; they 
have  high quality, non-magnetic stainless steel cover plates; no nails, all 
screws;  Just Intonation, sweet chords. I DID see some evidence of powertool 
tuning  scratches that could be a problem in the future. Time will tell, once  
they are in use .  The Herings are substantially heavier than my  SP 20's.  I 
could be wrong, but it seemed to me that the Hering Blues was  slightly heavier 
than the Black Blues, but as of yet, i havent taken the Hering  Blues apart to 
compare and find out what is the difference bet. the two  models.  If anyone 
knows, pls. post.
As i said, the reed reponse  was not great, but it was easy to improve the 
playability with some simple  gapping.  Because all of the reeds were already 
nicely shaped (curved  properly), it was a simple matter to reduce the gaps 
where needed.  Perhaps  newer Herings are better gapped, dunno?  Comments?
On this list a  week or so ago, Madcat Ruth said that he has been playing 
Herings for 8 years,  and stated that they have addressed and corrected all of 
the problems of the  Hohner Marine Band harps.  I am impressed with the quality 
of these harps,  and may buy more when the time comes, unless feedback i get 
from this thread is  negative.
ron