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

["Tom Klingl" <tom.klingl@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Did you know that the DF is in fact the Suzuki Harpmaster body with (even
more) phosphorized bronze reeds?

http://www.harponline.de/index.php?page=specials/bushman/specials111_delta_0
1&lang_id=de_DE&

Anybody out there who did a direct comparison?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roger Boyce [mailto:roger.boyce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 12:48 PM
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [Harp-L] Longish Bushman Harp Post - in bite size chunks.
> 
> 
> 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
> 
> 
>      
> 
> 
>