Re: [Harp-L] Suzuki Manji Impressions?

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

The Manji (am I correct that this is Mr. Suzuki's first name?) was the big news for diatonic at SPAH.

At a suggested retail price of $39.95, it's very competitive. It has a composite comb that includes wood fibre with something that looks like a textured (i.e. not shiny or slick)  plastic substance. The covers are similar in shape to marine Band covers and even have the cutout vents at the sides. The instrument incorporates the long reeds that overblow players were hoping for in the Firebreath. Long reeds help eliminate the toorsional  (side-to-side) vibrations that seem to be the cause of reed squeal during overbends.

The harp plays with good, even response and volume, seems airtight and in tune.

Out of the box the Manji overblows credibly well, but, like any harp sold to a wide public,  can use tweaking to reach its full potential. Brendan had a slightly tweaked Manji in the Suzuki showroom, and it played nicely.

Suzuki seems to be following a strategy of migrating the manufacturing improvements in its high-end instruments down to mid-price instruments, which may be a smart strategy to gain market share. Thus the $40 Manji incorporates some of the precise tolerances of the $99 Firebreath, while in the chromatic linup, the  Gregoire Maret signature models (priced in about the $450-500 range, depending on whether you go for metal or wood covers) incorporate many of the improvements found in the ~$3000 Fabulous models.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Tue, 8/18/09, Rob Paparozzi <Chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: Rob Paparozzi <Chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Suzuki Manji Impressions?
To: "Ray Beltran" <raybeltran@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 3:42 AM

Hi Ray,

I'm sure we'll be getting reports in soon on the Manji from Suzuki. I am now an endorsee and did a demo of the Manji at SPAH. YES, the reedplates are replaceable. The harps are fairly NEW off the production line so I will try and find out when the plates will be available and at what price here in the USA.

I'm very excited about the retail price of this amazing harp that can do so much "out of the box" w/o tweaking!....again, give us a few days to get back in gear from SPAH and we'll get you prices and more info. I'm sure the SPAH attendees will be tallking much about ALL the new products from Hohner and Seydel and Suzuki as well and all the harp related gear that was debuted at SPAH last week!..

hope this helps for now...

Best,
Rob Paparozzi

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray Beltran" <raybeltran@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 2:43 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Suzuki Manji Impressions?


> Anyone?
> 
> And, asking again, are the reedplates replaceable?
> 
> Ray.
> --
> My Music - www.resgraphics.com/music
> My YouTube - www.youtube.com/raybee127
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
> 

_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l