[Harp-L] marine band deluxe/crossover

["Rick Tabler" <badtabes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

About four months ago, I purchased three marine band deluxe. I felt that they all played very nicely out of the box. I later did some embossing, checked alignment, and gapped to my "flavor". I've played sp20s for some time, but I really liked the deluxe, all three of which I moved to my "front line". Before buying, I read many reviews, which varied greatly, from "garbage", to "like a custom", niether of which I completly believed. I've also read reviews of the crossover (which I also intend to try a couple of) and they all seem to be very positive--even by respected players/techs. The comments that puzzle me are concerning out of the box set up--tuning, gapping, and general playability. In all areas, it seems the crossover scores higher. Also, I've read that the mb classic, sp20, and deluxe have the same tuning, while the crossover is a slight variation of that tuning. Here's my heartburn--you go to Hohner USA, and go to parts, and they state the deluxe and crossover take th!
 e same reed plate!! Any input? Thanks, and thanks for all the great info I've gleaned from you all!!
Rick