Brendan suggests that customisers may be interested in the Manji. I suspect
not, for a simple reason. The welded reeds seem an excellent innovation, but
they can't be replaced (Brendan, correct me if I'm wrong here). Hence once a
reed goes, as it eventually will, then so does the instrument along with all
the work the cusomiser has done on the other reeds.
In contrast to this, riveted reeds can be replaced. Most customisers provide
this service for their instruments, hence restoring an otherwise useless
instrument to as good as new. My main set of Neil Graham custom diatonics are
7 years old, each of them has been serviced several times, each time with new
reed replacing the one gone bad. These instruments are still as good as new.
This is not to detract from the new Suzuki Manji. Most of us replace
instruments when reeds go bad, so the Suzuki is essentially no different to
its competitors. I look forward to hearing the price for this instrument, and
getting hold of one. Similarly for the Hohner Crossover.
A final note. Suzuki are definitely ahead of their competitors in terms of
web presence, particularly with Brendan's YouTube promotional series. It
would be great if the other manufacturers posted similar videos of A-list
players showing off new models.
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