Re: [Harp-L] Suzuki's Fabulus....Rant...

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On May 25, 2009, at 6:58 PM, martin oldsberg wrote:

> Fjm wrote:
> "If I read correctly Jeff's latest communications to the list it  
> seems as
> if what he is objecting to is not a particular reed set up per se but
> that the range of factory set ups is so wide and inconsistent.  In the
> case of a $50 instrument that might be an unfair expectation."
>
>   Is it "unfair" to expect a 50$ instrument to be playable? Don´t  
> think so.

This is so ridiculous. The inflation prices on harmonicas are wildly  
out of kilter with the general economy. Let me extrapolate with my  
'bad' math. Most products have barely kept pace with inflation. The  
only exceptions seem to be tobacco, gasoline, and harmonicas. Even  
BOOZE hasn't gone crazy.
For example: when I made $2.oo an hour, cigarettes were 20 cents,  
gasoline was 20 cents, you could get a drink for 20 cents and  
harmonicas were a dollar.
When I made $6.oo, cigarettes were 90 cents, (notice the hike),  
gasoline was 90 cents (notice), a drink was 75 cents, and harmonicas  
were $4.50. By the time I was making $18.oo, cigarettes were 3.60,  
gasoline was 3.60, a drink was 2.70, and harmonicas were $20.25.  
Meanwhile, everything else I bought has either gone up in a small  
normal inflationary percentage OR has actually gone down (when one  
factors in where they SHOULD be due to inflation).

Example. Our first automatic washing machine was $215.oo and now  
costs $430.oo (that's only DOUBLE...over a period of 42 YEARS). Our  
TV sets have cost $1,ooo, $1,1oo.oo, $1,3oo.oo, and recently  
$1,6oo.oo (A 60% increase in 42 years). Now I have been advised that  
these prices have been kept low because of advances in MANUFACTURING.  
Well, then what the he!! happened with harmonicas? Did technology  
pass them by?

I believe for what a harmonica entails, they are way over priced when  
one considers these other factors.

I was down to Subway and got a meatball sandwich (how appropos). It  
was $5.oo, I expected it to be good. It WAS good. I expected it to be  
consistent with other meatball sandwiches that I have had over the  
years. It was. Why was I so arrogant as to expect this? Because  
that's what I have experienced over these many years. That's also  
what I expect from harmonicas. I expect to buy a harmonica at a  
reasonable price, pick it up and play it. I expect it to work.

Therefore I agree that it is unforgivable to buy a harmonica and have  
it suck. If you don't want to build a good harmonica, quit building  
them.The quality should be commensurate with price. I think that ANY  
diatonic over $29.oo and ANY chromo over $98.oo should work fine  
right out of the box. And this quality should run from instrument to  
instrument. And I don't accept comparisons to other instruments.  
Harmonicas are by their very nature..self destructive, and aren't in  
the same ballpark with most other instruments.

>   Wouldn´t it be "fair" to expect some middle ground factory  
> settings that were consistent and workable for the typical player?  
> Based on years of harmonica production. I think so.

I agree

>   Tuning the guitar, as was mentioned by another writer, is not  
> applicable: that´s an inherent feature of the instrument. If, for  
> some reason, one of your guitar strings on your brand new guitar  
> doesn´t ring, you go back and complain and they fix it for you.

If you over stress a sax, she will simply choke out on you. You  
change to a harder reed. A trumpet? it just sounds louder. An  
accordion? They have a pressure relief valve. A flute? You can't blow  
hard enough to hurt it.  A violin? you can only get so much pressure  
from the horse hair. Pound too hard on a guitar? The only thing you  
hurt is the strings.
>   Jeff has some problem with his hands, preventing delicate work on  
> harmonicas; I have another problem, in my head: I get an instant  
> headache just as soon as I have to take those cover plates off from  
> the instrument. Re-tuning makes me physically ill; gapping -- don´t  
> mention it.

I have the same problem. I have worked on 'Khrome Klondikes (reg)'  
since 1956. I have done things that NO one has done. I find this work  
to be a royal pain in the derriere. I can do it. But I don't like it.  
I never ruined one but I HAVE saved some from the garbage. I guess I  
should be proud. Well, I'm not. Most of the work could have been  
avoided with a little more care in the first place. I do, however,  
have to be honest and say that I have been lucky over the years. I  
rarely have a problem with my own harmonicas.

> Last time I tried I ruined a brand new GM, broke the reed off. Got  
> so furious I threw it at the wall, bounced from the radiator and  
> took a chip out of an antique table. Bummer. Don´t call me when you 
> ´ve got something in your home that needs fixing.
>
>   A pal at a local jam said he´d bought a customised harp, set him  
> back 200 Euros. Of course, that´s a way to go. Problem was that he  
> was now afraid to play it, it was so expensive ...
>   Tough being a harp player these days.

I am in the enviable position to buy whatever they make out there  
BUT, I don't see a reason to put out a lot of money for an instrument  
that isn't commensurate with it's price levels.

smokey-joe
> Cheers,
> Martin
> -