Re: [Harp-L] Harp Quality

["steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <swebb@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have played Special 20s mostly for a long time. I would have to say that right now, the quality of that particular harp right out of the box, is by far the best I have seen. For me at least, for my style of playing, a stock SP20 is pretty darned good. A little tweaking and it's very good.
Golden Melody, which I don't play, is also good in stock condition. I haven't bought a Marine Band recently except for one D and it was not great... but D harps are never great out of the box.
Mass-produced instruments should have a general overall quality, but we shouldn't expect them to perform like customs. 
Learn to work on them. It isn't hard and it can turn a Chevy into a Cadillac.
Steve Webb in Minnesota

---- Drew W <eviltweed@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> Steve Baker wrote:
> 
> 
> > I have yet to find a harmonica from any manufacturer (and I've tested
> > them all in the course of my work for Hohner) which I would want to
> > play out of the box.
> 
> 
> I'd be pretty annoyed if that were true. You may have specific requirements,
> and some harps are duds, but if you can't find a company that builds a
> decent harp for blues and folk out of the box, then you'd be unlucky. I
> think that the Marine Band Deluxes are the best quality harps at a
> reasonable price these days. Some of the Seydel wooden comb harps are great
> too, except they have holes in the cover paltes at the front that are like
> moustache black holes... but the tuning is fine.
> 
> That being said, I agree learning to do your own set ups would be a good
> skill to have.
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