Fwd: [Harp-L] Re: Suzuki Pure Harp review (long)

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

I noticed the same chokiness in the 3 draw when trying out the Fire
Breath and Pure harps recently. The overall feel was one of tightness.
Overall, nice, responsive instruments. The steepness of the front of
the wood comb was brought to my attention as a potential negative. I
didn't have a problem with that, but I did notice som friction drag
from the rosewood - perhaps some further finishing, or application of
either a varnish or a lubricant might help with this.

The environment was noisy where I tried these harps so I didn't get
the opportunity to focus on tonal colors.

While the notes in the middle range responded well to overblows, the
OBs did not bend up in pitch much, and the Hole 1 OB was not well set
up. The instrument I tried had not been embossed or otherwise tweaked,
so it could be that a little trewking could extend these capabilities.

Winslow

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Richard Hunter
<turtlehill@...> wrote:

Spschndr@... wrote (regarding the Suzuki Pure Harp):

<Now, my 3 hole played way too tight initially, too tight to play out
with 
<frankly; but a close look showed the 3D reed to be gapped way low,
and one quick
<tweak got the 3 hole playing as well as the others.  

I bought a Fire Breath in C from Coast 2 Coast a couple of weeks ago
and have played it frequently since.  My harp had the same issue with
the 3D reed.  I also found the action initially to be a bit stiff.  I
did my usual setup routine -- emboss the reed slots with a penny
turned sideways, then gap the reeds -- and the result was a very
playable instrument, though I find the 3D reed still to be a little
soft.  I may re-gap at some point to get a little more volume out of
the instrument.

I did a side by side comparison of the Fire Breath with a Lee Oskar C
diatonic.  The Oskar seems to be a slightly louder instrument.  (Note
that the Oskar has had the same setup treatment, i.e. embossing and
gapping.) The Oskar's tone is brighter and "edgier" than the Fire
Breath; the Fire Breath's tone is noticeably darker, although it has a
lot more edge in it than I'm accustomed to hearing from wooden harps.
 Whether this difference in tone is "better" or "worse" depends
entirely on the player and the material.  I would describe the tone of
both these harps as attractive, and the tuning scheme used in both is
apparently the same (i.e. equal temperament, designed for single note
playing above all).     

The Fire Breath overblows easily in the middle register -- more easily
than any harp I've owned.  It also bends VERY deeply on every note
where a bend is available -- down to within a few cents of the lower
note in a given hole.  This might make absolute pitch control on bends
more difficult, but it certainly makes for an expressive instrument.

I don't know yet whether the Fire Breath will be anything like as
durable as an Oskar.  It's held up well so far under hard playing.  In
particular, it's gratifying to see that the rosewood comb doesn't
apparently swell at all.  A wooden comb that doesn't swell -- now
that's better living through engineering, chemistry, or whatever
technical arts were applied to the problem.  (Certainly not
electronics...)

My next step will be to acquire a pair of these instruments in G and
A, two keys where customized harps tend to rule, and see what they
sound like.  I could see my case eventually holding a set of these to
go with my Oskars -- it would certainly be nice to have those
different tone colors.

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com

 





  
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