[Harp-L] Question about custom harmonicas

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

Frank,

 Hohner no longer builds the Pro Harp and Mesterklasse models in the  
classic series, either for the North American or the European  
markets.  If they did, I probably would never have shopped around and  
discovered Suzukis.  If, as you and Steve Baker suggest, the Hohner  
Classic models are better, I don’t understand why Hohner changed  
certain classic models to exclusively MS configuration.  Perhaps my  
old favorite,  the classic Pro Harp, was more of a niche item, but  
Blues Harps have always been enormously popular and the Meisterklasse  
is supposed to be top of the line.  All 3 are now only available as  
MS models.  Unfortunately, the MS Meisterklasse harmonicas are not  
particularly air tight—it’s not just that they consume more air to  
move softer reeds-- they ARE leaky.  However, your observations are  
very insightful and thought provoking.

Purely as a matter of preference, I like to play harmonicas with  
metal combs.  I generally  don’t like wood combs, although I do think  
the sealed rosewood comb on the Firebreath is nice.  As far as  
compression is concerned, my style of play definitely  affects my  
preferences/prejudices. I do not play chords very much.  I’m more of  
a single note player and  I play in different positions. I often  try  
to get horn like sound and phrasing out of my harmonica when I  
perform, so it’s not surprising that I really like the higher  
compression of the Suzukis. I can’t get what I am calling a horn like  
sound consistently from Hohners, but I can with higher end Suzukis.  
This is probably due to what you are calling “stiffness”.   But, yes,  
it requires greater power and more controlled effort when playing in  
order to get the desired response and expression from Suzukis during  
performance.  In general, I agree that Suzukis are harder to handle.

Btw, my ear for pitch improved dramatically over a couple of months  
after I started playing Suzukis on a regular basis. I don’t play any  
other instrument besides harmonica, and I have no formal musical  
training.  I’d been playing Hohners with compromise tuning for so  
long that I never really knew( or learned) what certain notes on the  
harmonica  were supposed to sound like at proper pitch.  But after  
playing properly intonated ET harps for a while, i developed an  
improved ear for pitch, and my playing has progressed accordingly.

Golden Melodies are tuned to equal temperament, but I never played  
Golden Melodies for live performance out of ignorance. Years ago, I  
had tried Lee Oskars for a while when they first came out. But when I  
would play LO's during performance,  the musicians I played with  
(particularly keyboard players) would frequently complain that I was  
out of tune, especially in certain keys.  I wrongly attributed this  
to the LO’s being tuned to equal temperament, so I mistakenly avoided  
using GM’s for that reason. Since then I’ve learned that LO’s were   
tuned to 444 and 10 cents sharp, which was probably the source of the  
complaints,  NOT the ET tuning.  But I  didn’t figure this out until  
after I started playing Suzukis.

I must agree with you that there are definitely design differences  
between Suzukis and Hohners.  I’ll leave it to those who are better  
qualified to discuss whether there are also differences in quality of  
manufacture.

JP