Re: Sp20 reedplates was Re: [Harp-L] RE: Hohner MS

[G <gigs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fair enough Rick,
  It is a lot of work to learn to gap and tune properly.  Gapping is
something that comes with loads of practice.  And with plenty of practice
the most tone deaf can learn to hear the differences, and even go on to
excel at fine tuning.  
  Although it's made easier if someone can demonstrate them for you and
point out what to listen for.  
  One of the things I do when someone asks me about harmonica fine tunings,
and what the heck is a "difference tone".  I use a Bullet mic into a dirty
Class A rig, and blow a chord into it with each harmonica, same key, but
with different fine tunings - the differences become extremely obvious that
way.  
And strange as it may seem, a useful method when learning to tune by ear.
  You're worried about wrecking perfectly good harps, which I was too.  If
you have "dead" harps, they're a good place to start practicing.
  Cheap harps like the Hohner Bluesband, etc are good to learn on.
  I scouted around harp supplies looking for someone wanting to offload
excess key of Db, B and F# harps, and found someone who sold me a big box
of Hot Metals in those keys for a very reasonable price - a great deal less
than the total of half my own harps.  And used them as victims.   

  Anyway, to answer your first question, Lee Oskars are one of the most
consistantly tuned and gapped out of the box diatonic harmonicas on the
market - they also have the most durable reeds out of all the major brands.
 The two things that can put you off are they're tuned to 12tET meaning
chords are as rough as Hohner Golden Melody diatos. And they have a
tendancy to squeal when bending, but it can be eliminated by either putting
dots of nail polish or wax in the corners where the foot of the reed meets
the reed slot, and/or practice and control over your bending technique.  
Cheers,
-- G.

Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 07:19:01 -0600
From: "Rick & Dana Siekmann" <dsiekmann@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Sp20 reedplates was Re: [Harp-L] RE: Hohner MS
>
>A couple of people have said the MS harps are fine, once they been regapped,
>retuned, whatever. ..in my case, however, I don't have any real interest in
>reworking the harps for two reasons: first, I don't really want to go through
>the time and expense of learning the trade (I'm not that interested); and
>second, my ear just isn't sufficiently practiced to hear if any one reed
might
>be a little off and in which direction.  Much less a whole set of reeds.
>Maybe that will come with time, and maybe an interest in the technical
side of
>things will grow too.  But for now I'm just concerned with how they play and
>sound out of the box.  (I think Popper is the same way.)
>
>That said, are there any commonly available, affordable harps, other than
>Marine Bands and Sp20s that stand out for their playability off the shelf?
 
And

Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:04:45 -0600
From: "Rick & Dana Siekmann" <dsiekmann@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Steve, I appreciate your input.
>
>My main concern is the wasted expense of ruining some perfectly good harps
> during the learning process.