Re: [Harp-L] Hohner MS harps

[G <gigs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Rick,
  French harmonica musician Jean-Jacques Milteau gigs professionally on
Hohner MS harmonicas.  His website http://jjmilteau.free.fr/ so I guess he
likes them.  When he toured NZ, the few pro players around here gave MS
harps another try - but they've reverted back to handmades.  :)
  Personally I find out of the box MS harps rough on the mouth, and don't
respond in a way I like - but then I find thats true also with Hohner
Handmade Marine Bands.  With some polishing to the front of the comb and
reedplates, and some gapping they can be made to feel nice and play well.  
 I spent quite a bit of time customising a set of MS diatonics, but with
the extra amount of work involved, I've realised I'm better off customising
Special 20s and Lee Oskars as they don't require quite as much effort to
get the results I'm after.   
  One of the useful things about MS harps is some of their reeds are
interchangable with some Hohner chromatic reeds - given the range of notes
available in that selection of reed dimensions, this is useful for
rereeding extreme tunings.
-- G.
http://harmonica.7p.com

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 15:12:17 -0600
From: "Rick & Dana Siekmann" <dsiekmann@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Hohner MS harps
To: <Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
>Just curious, does anyone use these professionally (or
semi-professionally) as
>their main gigging harps?  I've got a couple of Pro Harps and one Big River,
>the rest of my (small) ensemble consists of Special 20s and Marine Bands.
The
>reason I ask is that I find the MS harps to be stiffer and less responsive
>than the others, and I was wondering if it was just me or if that's something
>inherent in the MS reed plates.