[Harp-L] Let's put all speculation aside



Daniel Bernard writes:

"When I wrote to Brendan Powers
concerning Suzuki's product line I expected that Brendan would actually be able
to eventually answer the questions posed to him. Merely to state the
obvious, I never asked such questions before, and Brendan seemed to be inviting
such interaction."



Indeed he was, and as it's an open list, anyone who thinks they might have an answer or opinion on a subject can also join in. I felt that there were several factors you were overlooking and pointed those out. Brendan pointed other factors out (his are probably more accurate, of course, but I doubt that they invalidate my "speculation").



"I could pick apart JR "Bulldogge" Ross'
correspondence sentence by sentence. But I don't think the argumentative
answer satisfies anyone."



"I can answer that question, but don't have the time right now, sorry, you'll just have to trust me."


:)

I wasn't being argumentative, just trying to point out some things you seem to have missed.


"No I don't have any sales figures at my disposal! Only a few people on this list have such information and are unlikely to publish it. "


You made a massively general statement of fact (" The Japanese love Natural Minors"), I asked where you got that from. No need for sales figures even, just some sort of reason for the statement. Of course, sales and availability of natural minor harmonicas in Japan would be the most relevant to this discussion.



" I recall hearing on Howard Levy’s DVD that the natural minor harmonica contains the Japanese scale within it."


Which tells me why you made the assumption. However, that's all it is, an assumption. It would take a look at what harmonicas are actually used to say whether natural minor harmonicas are common in Japan. I'm pretty sure they aren't (IIRC, it's standard Asian-style tremolos that are most common, though it may be significant that many companies also offer minor-tuned tremolos in Asia).





"Suzuki markets the Humming
Tremolo in C, C#, A, G, D, Am, Gm, and Dm in the USA.
[4] All the minor and major keys are
available in Europe. [5] I know that means “Natural Minor!” [7] It is incontrovertible that harmonicas are
being sold in other parts of the world that are not available here."



Yes, many models are sold overseas that are not available in the US. And yes, Suzuki does sell the Humming Tremolo in more keys in other markets. That last word is the key: market. The market for tremolos in the US is rather small, whereas it's huge in Asia, and perhaps larger in Europe. Companies tend not to make an effort to import a model which won't sell. Suzuki probably doesn't believe that more keys will sell in the US. So if you want them you have to go overseas for them. With the internet that's rather easy now. Of course, none of this has to do with Richter diatonic harmonicas, which I thought was the subject of this discussion; also I note that Suzuki doesn't sell diatonic harmonicas in anything other than standard tuning from any of the links you gave.



"There appears to be an interest on this list about how a harmonica manufacturer determines it's product line."


There is such an interest. Unfortunately there isn't a similar interest in understanding the basics of how markets operate and the most simple principles of economics which tend to be the determining factors behind these decisions, especially import and export decisions.


I've seen people complain about Lee Oskar not allowing other Tombo products to be sold in the US dozens of times. What they ignore (either in ignorance or willfully) is that LO tried to carry the full Tombo line, but these didn't sell, so they now just carry the Lee Oskar models. However, almost every time people tend to see sinister motives for Lee Oskar blocking the other Tombos from the market, when in truth LO would love to sell all the Tombo line, just it's not worth importing stock for sale through traditional retail outlets (who wouldn't want to carry these in the first place). Perhaps the internet business model might change that, but it's still too early to say. You seem to similarly be making assumptions about Suzuki based on illogical factors in your post, so I felt a need to point those out.


"We all have our sacred cows."



I have no sacred cows. I was merely trying to point out the flaws in comparing apples to oranges.



"I like alternate tunings on a diatonic. Someone else likes a particular kind of tuning on a chromatic."


I like both these things. Neither sells and were I in business I wouldn't bother trying to manufacture something which doesn't sell-- were I a customizer I would probably be willing to make a harmonica in any tuning the customer wanted, for the proper fee. But the difference in what is easy for an individual to do and an industrial manufacturing concern is rather significant. Seydel seems to be trying to merge the two, and I am glad for that. However, Hering also tried that for a while and it didn't work out as well for them. It's a risky proposal, and it spends a lot of energy catering to a very small market. But then, so do the Suzuki Overdrive and the Hohner XB-40, and I'm also quite glad they were made.


The main thing I wanted to point out with regards to your post was not in answer to these questions, but rather the flaw in comparing two things which are very different except in one superficial category. Thus the examples I gave of things which are similarly similar in a broad way, but not very similar when looking at the entire range of features (a Ferrari and a Hyundai, for example--and no offense to Hyundai's, they've won the JD Power rating the last two years, IIRC, so they are quite nice in many ways, but comparing them to a Ferrari is similar to the comparison you were making between brands and models).


"[Brendan Power] is taking a hiatus this year, but he made a good living on alternative tunings."


You have no way of knowing what the majority of Brendan's harmonica work was, and what percentage alternate tunings represented. It included alternate tunings, but a simple look at his website shows how diverse it was. Moreover, even if every harmonica Brendan put out was an alternate tuning, that would still represent 0.000000000000084% of the overall harmonica market in the US alone (the number is made up, however take a minute to think of the overall number of harmonicas sold in the US per year, then the number of harmonicas Brendan could work on in a year and I think the point becomes clear). That's not a market most manufacturers would want to bother with. That's not to say alternate tunings are bad as you will find that I have often recommended and championed them, but just a recognition of reality in an attempt to answer a question posed. If you don't like the answers, well, then I really can't help you there.





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








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