RE: [Harp-L] RE: poor manufacturing was Suzuki's Fabulus....Rant...

[Steve Shaw <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

Jeff wrote, among very many other things:

 

> Then I would call you and me and others who just accept the status quo suckers
> 
> Jeff

 

You must have been very unlucky.   I've been using SP20s for almost 20 years and must have bought dozens in that time.   I have never once had a reed on a new harp that was broken, jammed, out of alignment or seriously out of tune.  I retune my harps anyway to a different fine-tuning so I suppose I wouldn't grouse about the last part.  On average, about two or three reeds may need slight gapping adjustments to respond the way I want, sometimes none at all.  Two minutes' easy work there!   I honestly don't know what more I can ask for in a harp that cost me just about twenty quid.   I would say that I've noticed an improvement in quality control over the last few years.   My experience with Lee Oskars and Suzuki Bluesmasters is similar.  I am quite demanding, I assure you, as in my music I have to play fast melodies with hard playing and can't have reeds choking on me or otherwise not responding well.  I don't buy $200 harps but if I did I would possibly expect more, but even so I can't expect a non-customised harp at any price to be automatically gapped correctly for the way I play.  The guys in the factory are not supernatural beings who know in advance whose hands the harp will fall into.  The moral of the tale is simple.  Learn the basics of tuning and gapping.  If you can't for any reason, and OOTB harps are not acceptable, you'll have to get a customiser (or friend - I have been that friend to a couple of people!) to interpret your needs and set up your harps for you.   It is actually very rewarding to know that the harp in your hand isn't just any harp but is a harp that is in harmony with you and that you are in harmony with it.  I have no connection with any harmonica firm and I've had isolated grouses in the past over one thing and another, but on the whole I think they provide what most of us would want, bearing in mind that harmonicas don't last for ever:  affordable harps that, with minor adjustments for personal needs, can become first-rate musical instruments.

 

Steve  

 


 

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