[Harp-L] Longish Bushman Harp Post - in bite size chunks.

[Roger Boyce <roger.boyce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey y'all.

Subjective run-down of standard, out-of-the box, French harps.

Just for the record ( Yo,JOHN, at B.M., listen up. ) I absolutely  l-o-v-e
Bushamn Delta Frost Harmonicas!!!! And I get astounded feedback from
audiences and musicians who actually listen, and those who give a .....

Nothing I've played ( in my 40+ year amplified harp playing "career ) plays
or sounds quite like a Delta Frost. That's good.

I don't set them up at all....play them right out of the box. Liquid-like
arpeggios, nuanced-snapless-bends, smoky, growly, crisp, ripping, ice-pick
stabbing, low-moaning, tone depending on how you work the little darlings.

Better mouth feel and weight than a Special 20 (too light and tinny feeling)
Marine Band ( lip shredding unless customized ) Lee Oskar ( hate the feel of
the embossed metal numbers on my lips ) blah, blah blah.

I don't find Frosts ( thank doG ) as bright as Lee Oskars. Lee Oskars are
harder to kill than a Bushman but I can't get into their sound, at all - so
the fact that LO's last and last is a Pyrrhic victory, to say the least.

That being said Delta Frosts are not perfect ( but then who or what is ) its
highest ends can get squeaky (but I'm not a high-head player like Jimmy
Reed) and the reeds on the lower key harps can rattle on the lowest end if
those reeds are punched too agressively.That could be customized out...but
again, I don't bother.

Like all good things ( and folks ) Delta Frosts do eventually die...even
with good technique. They ( in my experience ) last way longer than Special
20's ( my next favorite sounding harp - believe it or not ) and bit longer
than middle key Marine Bands.

I've never tried Suzuki's Bluesmasters. But I do own a whole bunch of Suzuki
Promasters which I do enjoy...but they tend to unpredictably choke with my
style of playing - which could probably be taken care of if I ( again ) had
the time and expertise to set them up properly.

I own a couple of Hohner cross harps ( indestructible ) but they are wind
wasters and to my ear sound oddly muffled. Mid-range hearing loss, maybe?

Hohner Big Rivers, oddly enough, sound freaking great, and are cheap-to-boot
+ ( BIG plus ) Paul deLay ( my single pantheon harmonica god ) played them.
Just one small problem...they die young and leave piles of useless and
unattractive corpses).

Hohner Meisterclasse(s) pretty-pretty but ho-hum...I have a couple but never
use them - although, with their solidity and weight, they would come in
handy in a bar brawl.

So, after decades of harmonica tasting I give my personal endorsement
( like, who cares ) and my business to Bushman. Great tone,fluid response,
and reasonable longevity.

For the sin of lengthy posting I am heartily sorry.

Roger "Wader" Boyce
Christchurch, New Zealand