Re: [Harp-L] Re; Seydel harps

David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> · Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:23:59 -0700 (PDT)

No problem, Gary, I'd be glad to comment....
$90 is a lot of money, but, consider this, that 1847 in the pic with the Lee Oskar was one of the first 1847s sold in the U.S. It's 16 months old now. In that 16 months, It spent a lot of time as my main harp, as my carry harp. It got a lot of playing time, a lot of hard playing time. We played all our hard, fast bluegrass, like Elk River Road, Kentucky Mandolin, Bluegrass Breakdown in G, so I could use that harp. In that time, it has got the hardest-attack songs in my portfolio. In fact, it has gotten a lot of those hard-attack songs that, ordinarily, another key harp would have had to endure. 
In this 16 months, with the amount of attack I've put on it, I would have gone through four Marine Bands with that amount of concentrated abuse... so the 1847 has already saved me a lot of money. It's not done saving me money. The reeds are ALL still in PERFECT tune. It's not even drifted to slightly-out, but acceptable tune. 
Now I've half valved it, so it's even more stressed, the blow reeds are not only stressed with their draw bend interaction, they are now stressed with blow bending. But it is still in perfect tune. 
This 1847 will go out someday. When, I have no idea. But it has already saved me a hell of a lot of money. The 1847 will save an extreme hell of a lot of money if you play D harps a lot. D harps, the lowest of the short slots, blows out quicker than other keys. But the 1847 D, E, F are all LONG slot harmonicas.
The $90 cost isn't just for steel... it's for all the other tweaks that make it play better. The steel itself, I'm convinced, doesn't change how it plays much, just makes it last longer. What you get extra are these really thick coverplates, and very little room between reed and slot. Instead of stamping the plates from one side, which distorts the slot some, Seydel punches it out from BOTH sides. With the reed slots truer, they could make the reed/reedslot gap a heckuva lot tighter.When you take one apart and think "I'm gonna emboss it" you look at that gap and say "why bother embossing it?" I emboss it, but lightly, mostly I'm just making the corners of the slots sharper, not trying to bring it in that much. 
There's been a lot of talk about reed arcing, somebody please take the covers off an 1847 and look at the reeds, they are slightly arced. I don't know if that was intentional, but they are.
If you want to know what it's like to play one, but don't want to spend $90, get a Seydel Big Six, they are less than $40, but have steel reeds, biggest difference is the Big Six is a short-slot C. 
The 1847 can serve a vital role as your main key harp to replace whatever you blow out all the time. That's what my one 1847 does and it saves me money.

Dave
_______________________
Dave Payne Sr. 
Elk River Harmonicas
www.elkriverharmonicas.com

----- Original Message ----
From: Gary Calahan <glcalahan@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Barry F. Cohen <kates-cohen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 1:44:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re; Seydel harps

Hey Everybody

After all this banter about the Seydel 1847, I started to check out
the prices etc..  I do understand you "get what you pay for "but, $90 +
shipping for an OOB harp A harp (my fav key)?  I have, like many, have
tried them all from Hohnor MB, Spl 20, Meist. Osker, Herring, Bushman
and also customs from some of you on the list.  I have often been very
disappointed in the flurry of certain brands after purchasing.  I am
somewhat hesitant to jump on the wagon.  The 1847, after all is an OOB
harp.

Also, with all the slamming of Hohnor, I have not been so terribly
disappointed but yes, I have gotten my duds.  What hasn't been
mentioned is the inflation of the cost of the harps when I was paying
$2.75 for a MB in 1969 when I started.........and yes I play Hard!

Dave, somebody comment??

Thanks,

Gary

On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 1:20 PM, Barry F. Cohen
<kates-cohen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: Barry Cohen
> Subject: Seydel harps
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
>
> Hi List,
>
> After exclusively playing Hohner Special 20's for the three years I've been playing harp - I've grown very dissatisfied with there out-of-the-box performance, questionable durability, and lack of sound volume (closed back).  I am another who plays too hard when out live and blow reeds (I know, I know...).
>
> Anyhow, just ordered and received my first Seydel harp - 1847 Silver - and am totally floored by it! The thing looks, feels & plays like a much higher quality instrument, and best of all, with it's open back and whatever else makes it tick - it is MUCH brighter & louder than the 20's and I now feel for the first time I don't have to blow my brains (and reeds) out to get the volume I'm after and this harp will help my technique (well, that and working on my chops!).  The only caveats before your purchase - as David Payne has already pointed out - the harp is about the size of a Lee Oskar - significantly bigger than the 20's - and the holes are not numbered (who cares?).
>
> For any intermediate players out there who are dissatisfied with their out of the box harps (especially folks who don't work on
> their own harps) and may also play with too much force (per recent discussions on this list), I strongly suggest you try one of these babies out! Now to save up $$ for more keys (shhhh, don't tell my wife!!)...
>
> Barry
> http://www.myspace.com/gracieblues
> http://www.myspace.com/barrycohenakamash
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
"You can't change the direction of the wind, but you can always trim
your sails!"
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