Re: [Harp-L] re: names



Naming a product is a funny thing. I used to make custom mic's. I called the mic a Slap-O-Matic. It started as a joke
but very quickly cought on. Had I just called it a custom chrome harp mic there would have been no way to set it aside
from the other custom mic's out there. By this I mean, if someone had the mic and they were asked about it it was very easy
to say "it's a S-O-M. you can find it on the net". As a business this is smart becaust if I type in journeyman harp I'll find
Tim's harp a lot easier and it will be his that I find, not every custom MB for $50. I hated the name of my mic but it worked
out very well to have a name. My amp is called the Meteor. I've never really loved that name either but it serves it's purpose and it
does it well. Naming a product is an important part of marketing. How many amps does Fender make that has 4 10" speakers ?
Reading through a slew of characters that designates what it is is a pain in the ass. It's much easier for the consumer to ask for
a Bassman or a Twin etc...... I've alway's hated the way Harley Davidson did it. XLCH for a sportster and such. Just tell me
what the hell it is, I'm already too confused from life itself, figuring out some funky designation sure don't help. Just my thoughts.


Scooter

Tim Moyer wrote:

"I wish now that you'd submitted an
entry, Jonathan, so I could see what you would consider a good name."

Custom Marine Band, $50

I really don't see the need for anything else name-wise. Fortunately, I'm in pretty good company on that:

http://www.customharmonicas.com/james_gordon_product_pricing.html

If it was an all-new harmonica, and you were a company like Suzuki or Leo Shi introducing a new line, say, I'd just go with an alpha- numeric system. Say, PT-50. P for plastic comb, T for traditional MB-type covers and well, 50 for the price. Or an internally logical number like 911 was for Porsche, or 270 and 280 were for Hohner. I don't even mind an adjective with the number (Special 20, Super 64), but it's not what I would do.

Notably, neither organ companies nor piano companies have ever needed to have names for their products beyond the descriptive (for the most part). Thus you have a Steinway model D concert grand, or simply an Opus number for an organ. I can think of exceptions in both cases, but they are just that (and, again notably, these are aimed at the lower end and not done by the premier companies).

Of course, electric guitars are an exception--but then, besides the classic names which have simply been around so long they are no longer onviously bad, most of the newer names are horrible. And the best acoustic guitar companies always went with a systemic approach, occasionally with a descriptive (Jumbo, for instance, which is just that--though I wonder if they had a suit from Barnum's corporate heirs over that...).

To each their own, of course, but even given that, I don't see "journeyman" as a good name. I'm not sure what would be, but that's why I wouldn't go with a name in the first place.


()() JR "Bulldogge" Ross () () & Snuffy, too:) `----'



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