RE: [Harp-L] Tony Dannecker's harps

[Steve Shaw <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

< What Tony does
> basically consists of setting up Hohner stock instruments to the
> requirements of his customers, i.e. mostly tuning and gapping. He
> also offers his own design of metal comb based on the Hohner MS
> Meisterklasse with rounded ends to the "teeth" in order to increase
> playing comfort.
>
> What he does not do is make custom harmonicas and quite a number of
> serious customizers are unhappy about his claim to produce "The
> finest custom harmonicas in the world". As many members will be
> aware, customizing entails extremely exacting work on the reed plates
> and reeds, which requires a great deal of time and can only be done
> by a highly skilled player. This is the reason why real custom
> harmonicas are only produced in tiny amounts and are rightly very
> expensive. Mr Dannecker does not perform this work on his harmonicas
> and it's misleading to describe them as "custom instruments". There
> is absolutely nothing wrong with them, but potential purchasers
> should be clear that what they're buying is a stock harp which has
> been set up and tuned more accurately. A number of "real" customizers
> also offer this service, but at a considerably lower price than their
> actual custom instruments,
>
> Steve
>
> Steve Baker
OK, this is hard to argue with, but there is a bottom line here.  Anthony will set up a harp in the tuning and gapping you request for a very small premium.  I speak to him, tell him exactly what I need and he produces the goods for not much more than I would pay for a stock harmonica.   The job is extremely professional.  You will not find crude tuning gouges on Dannecker reeds.   The tuning will be settled to within a gnat's crotchet of what you asked for.  He will Paddify a harp for no extra cost, likewise render a non-12tET harp into equal tuning.   I don't know whether he does all those other sophisticated things such as closing up reed tolerances or getting the exact reed curvature, etc., but I severely doubt (in spite of much talk of these things on Harp-L) that the vast majority of harmonica players either want or need these refinements.  What they need is for a pretty good stock harp to be even prettier and gooder so that they don't sit in their sessions fretting about whether it will respond properly or not.   I can cope quite well in my own Irish sessions and this is what I need and this is what I get from Anthony (or even myself, to a lesser extent).  I suppose Little Walter had to make do with a lot less and I hear he did quite well.   I suppose it all depends on what you mean by "custom." The fact is that an out of the box SP20 is not much good to me but one that I've spent an hour messing around with is good enough to play on my next CD.  Anthony's are even better than that.  The expert customisers you rightly refer to have no monopoly on the word "custom."   I suspect that most of them will shrug, say that you get what you pay for and rely on their reputations, which is how it should be. 

Steve  

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