[Harp-L] Re: Hering Free Blues harmonica

[spschndr@xxxxxxx]

I haven't bought any Free Blues for several years, but they were a real bargain back then.? There are a couple of shortcomings: the reedplates don't seal well against the plastic comb, some Micropore tape or other sealant being helpful there, and I think the reedplates themselves are fractionally thinner than Marine Band reedplates (like a tenth of a millimeter thinner) and thus the harp is not as loud as it could be--compare a 1923's thicker-than-MB reedplate to the Free Blues if you've got one, it's very visible.? The Hering Master Blues also has both of those shortcomings.? The thinner reedplate saves the company that much metal and thus is cheaper for them, more so these days with metal prices up; Lee Oskar/Tombo does the same thing in at least some of their harmonicas and arguably suffers sonically by it too,?as do the Chinese cheapies like Huang, the contemporary Old Standby Hohner, etc.? The thinner reedplates arguably make the tone sound a bit thinner as well?(pun not intended).? The Free Blues reedplate does respond well to gapping and embossing, within the performance limitations imposed by the thinner reedplates, and I think the reed dimensions match the Hohner handmade sizes when you are replacing individual reeds.? 

The coverplates are neither here nor there, due to the closed ends; what a lot of people want out of Marine Band-style coverplates is precisely the open ends and the way those interact with their hands when manipulating their cup & the extension of the high end of the available tonal palette.? The Free Blues and Master Blues sound less like Marine Bands than their appearance suggests, due to the closed ends of the coverplates.? Of course one can install old Marine Band coverplates if that sound's the goal, and I've gone in the opposite direction and put Free Blues or Master Blues covers onto SP20s?because my small hands simply can't wrap Marine Band covers up as well as I'd like, and the closed ends of the Hering covers give me a semi-Marine Band sound (I solder little plates in to block the ends of Marine Band covers too).?? If you want to roll open the flanges on the Free Blues cover plates for a wider opening that makes the harp brighter and louder, try rolling the whole lip back toward the vertical afterward, the way a Marine Band Deluxe's covers are done, and that will prevent the coverplate from crushing in under hand pressure (works on 1923s also and fits your hands better than you'd think, feels fine).

I think the Free Blues is the cheapest way out there to try out an old-school 7-limit just intonation diatonic and Hering tunes even these cheap models quite well.? That alone makes it an interesting harp.? But the thinner reedplates can be a liability if you play out: you don't get as much volume/projection, you're frustrated and you blow harder and maybe kill the harp sooner.??A lot of what people perceive as "cheap" about cheaper harps like the Free Harp and the Chinese SP20 knockoffs is the impression created by the thinner reedplates' effects.? It's kind of oxymoronic to go in & emboss such harps to make them louder, since you're only going to wind up around the level of an unembossed Marine Band or whatever.? But if one is good at gapping harps, a gapped Free Blues is a good gift for a friend who wants to try harp--you don't have to tune it too, the way you do with SP20 knockoffs; and I guess buying a 7-harp set & gapping them is a way to get MB-style backups for a lot less money.

I liked the little plastic box they came in too: fit unobtrusively in the pocket and was fully sealed so lint was not a problem, holds Marine Bands well too.? I keep a customized C Free Blues here on my desk; it was a gig backup for a couple of years.? Overall, I think they're a genuine bargain alternative to all the cheapo SP20 knockoffs, especially due to the tuning; but the thin reedplates hold their performance potential down, and the closed coverplate ends mean that the Free Blues won't really work as a cheap Marine Band for Marine Band fanatics.? I had drilled a pair of Marine Band covers to fit a Hering 1923 when those first came out, and put them on my C Free Blues just now: really a significant difference, and if Hering punched holes in the ends of the Free & Master Blues covers, they'd start selling more of them.

Stephen Schneider

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