[Harp-L] Question about custom harmonicas

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

Here's my question about custom harps:  Why do customizers only  
customize Hohners?  I don't like Hohners.  I'd rather play Suzukis. A  
custom Hohner would be an improved version of a harmonica i don't  
like in the first place.  Presumably, a customized Suzuki (I'm not  
talking about a Fabulous here) would be a better product, because the  
stock harmonica that the work is performed on is a better product to  
start with.  A custom Hohner is an improved version of an inferior  
product.  A custom Suzuki should be superior because the instrument  
that is being customized  is superior to start with.

I played Hohners for 26 or 27 years before i switched to Suzuki, so i  
have a substantial  basis for comparison.  I have a strong preference  
for certain characteristics of the higher end Suzukis which i  
understand not all players will share.  Others may not find these  
characteristics desirable.  But the QUALITY of the higher end Suzuki  
instruments--compression (air tightness), depth and consistency of  
tone from reed to reed, responsiveness etc., is indisputably superior  
to any stock Hohner I've ever played, (and I've played  A LOT of  
them).  Accordingly, i do not understand why customizers choose to  
perform their precision work using a Hohner platform and only a  
Hohner platform as a starting point, and why none of them are  
customizing Suzukis.  (Or  Lee Oskars for that matter).

 Maybe it's because necessity is the mother of invention--Hohners  
must be worked on in order to perform well, while Suzukis and Lee  
Oskars perform reasonably well out of the box. Since  Hohners HAD to  
be worked on in order to be playable  and Hohners  have been around  
longer,  the technicians performing the precision work necessarily  
started out working on Hohners.  Perhaps they simply stuck with  
customizing  the brand they became most familiar with, and so they  
now use the Hohner platform exclusively by default.  It's human  
nature that people tend to stick with what they are familiar with.

Maybe I'm only displaying my ignorance by putting up this post.  But  
the difference between ignorance and stupidity is that ignorance can  
be cured with information. Enlighten me.

JP