Re: [Harp-L] Reed Durability: The Facts

[Frank Evers <frank@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi

Am Montag, 8. Dezember 2008 schrieb Brendan Power:
> It would be great to have a truly impartial test of reed durability
> under strictly controlled conditions. Then the consumer would
> really KNOW which brand and model is the best in this regard,
> rather than having to rely on hearsay and players/manufacturers'
> claims.

Though i'd like to know, too, i don't think that this can really be 
done. The Problem are the controlled conditions. Players are 
different and can't while the conditions in that test might represent 
some players it won't represent others. 
I'm not a professional player, so i don't spend hours playing every 
day, but still i can say for sure, that i barely break reeds at all. 
Within this year i broke two reeds, both on the same harp and the 
second right after i replaced the first one. Thats all.
On the other hand there are players who state, that barely ever a harp 
lasts for more than a month fo them. Franz Chmel breaks reeds nearly 
at a one per day rate! 

Then some players are very happy with the longevity of one brand's 
harmonicas, but not with another one's and a for a second player it's 
vice versa.
You simply cannot emulate, let alone control these conditions.

One way to get usable data on this subject might be retailers 
documenting reclamation rates. However this wll only cover early reed 
failtures and it's likely, that players tend to complain early reed 
failtures on expensive models, while they will probably just threw 
away a cheaper one and buy a new.
-- 
Gruß,Frank