[Harp-L] Seydel harps. 1847 beta-harps



You're right David...
The reeds are arced and that's on every Seydel harp. I've been working for Seydel for the last 3 years to help improving the quality.
I spent a lot of time showing and teaching the people in the factory how I set-up my custom harps. It took a long for them to get used to a "new/different " way of working . The Silver 1847 is the result of a lot of very small improvements .... and the latest 1847 classic with wooden comb have the same features/set-up.
There are still things that a customizer can do to this harp but working on an already fine harp makes life a bit easier for me..
I don;t have to seal combs, open the back of the covers, no rusting coverplates etc....


I broke 1 reed in the last 3 years..I still have prototypes that i use during my gigs!!! I had to retune a few reeds, maybe 5 or 6 , that's it.
It's not on my website yet, but the low keys can already be ordered, from low C to low F (and all keys in between )..


Please feel free to ask any question about the steel reeds/new harps. If possible I'll be glad to answer any question..
On youtube you can find a few videos where i demonstrate my beta-harps...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VbObcL_2GA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYAOPJLYCfE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOi-HqsuHdY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWp601zjo60
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6KLRZ9rUNc


I recorded these with a built-in camera from my laptop computer in YouCam... as soon as I have more time I'll record in a better quality..

Ben Bouman
www.beta-harps.com
Ben Bouman
www.seydel1847.de
www.marbletones.com
www.marble-amps.com
www.harmonicainstituut.nl
----- Original Message ----- From: "David Payne" <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Harp L Harp L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 8:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re; Seydel harps



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 ----




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