Re: [Harp-L] Harps made in China



At 01:31 PM 4/23/2008, Gary the P wrote:
This may sound a bit pessimistic but businesses all over the world are often run the way you describe and construct sophisticated PR damage control programs to compensate for the occasional screw up or life(s) lost. China doesn't have the corner on this behavior.

Perhaps, but the guys I was working with had dealt with loads of manufacturers and when they first brought up their problems with the purifier distrib they expected absolutely no results.


They explained to me that for some companies making junk is a numbers game. Get a bunch out the door and ignore the complaints. If there's a profit after the returns, you're doing it right, as far as they're concerned.

They were mightily surprised at how rapidly the Chinese manufacturer responded, and how effectively. Every issue they raised was dealt with in the next shipment, and this is with an American distrib in the middle. For instance, a rubber gasket was stuck onto a replaceable part in such a way that someone must've been forced to make six per minute. It was very gappy, seriously degrading performance. After the complaint it was obvious that they took much more time installing this gasket, and improved the process, too. No more gaps.

I seem to recall that there used to be a kit you could buy to test whether your coffee mugs had lead in the glaze. I wonder if that kind of approach would be possible with harps.

As for not digging Hohners, I'm witcha buddy. However, I bought a C# Marine Band due to an emergency last summer, cringing all the way. After an hour of playing that thing had set up very nicely. I was surprised. Still didn't compare to my Suzuki Fire Breaths, but I was impressed. Back when you had two choices for harps, either buy a Hohner or take up guitar, I perfected a method for only buying airtight Hohners that played well:

I got a job in a record store that sold MB's and Blues Harps. The trick: I tested every single harp that came in. Kept all the goodies. There weren't that many.

I sold all the junk to customers, saving many of them from a life at a harmonica player's pay grade.

I have to think that to this very day clever harmonica players who work at music stores are trying to do us the same favor.

K





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