Re: [Harp-L] Hohner Industrial Lemons?

["Mark Lavoie" <lavoie@xxxxxxxxx>]

Billy,
The bottom line is, that harmonica players need to learn how to gap reeds to 
their style of play.

We all have different mouth cavities, and different breath pressure.

I would be complaining also, if I did not know how to tune and adjust reeds.

Most out of box harmonicas, are slightly leaky and the slightest reed 
adjustment is the key!

Joe Spiers Youtube Video on reed adjustment, nailed it for me, after 
adjusting reeds for 11 years.

It seems like every customiser has a different approach on adjusting reeds.

Check out Joe's video, and give it a try.

All the best!
Mark Lavoie
4849 Bristol Rd
Bristol, VT  05443

802-236-5665
http://www.deltagrooveproductions.com/music/artists/billsimmarlavoie/main.html
www.myspace.com/theharmonicaman
www.middlebury.net/lavoie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Billy James" <billyjames@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 10:19 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Hohner Industrial Lemons?


Oh no !... not this annoying 'issue' again. Let me firstly say I am not 
generally a 'whinger', I however expect products to be functional when 
purchased, be it harps, amps or mics.* [I have exchanged emails before with 
Steve Baker; obviously it's a drag after a while, he seems a very amiable 
decent guy and it's great he responds]...however I just purchased three 
Hohner Special 20 keys A,C,D which, quite frankly I wanted to 'return' 
before I'd left the mall carpark. They ALL have a very whispy, slow 
reaction.They all need to be 'sucked extra hard' when I perform, in order to 
get near a response and volume easily afforded by my last batch. *(Obviously 
I compared them).This is not imagination amigo's... I'm fully sick of this! 
It seems to smack quality control are they getting just too hungry for the 
dollar? I am a professional player over here [even if you guys  havn't heard 
my music I've won awards in the Hohner Golden Harmonica Championships 
'06,'07,'8. In fact I play similarly to Steve Baker [who I must say makes 
great products eg: Play-alongs and CD's]!
At $55 a harmonica I expect the darn things to be of professional quality. I 
don't care about the excuses of modern industrial manufacture it's a major 
frustration to buy inferior instruments. My last 'full key' batch of Marine 
Band Deluxe had problems out of the box sticking in performance [some still 
do]. I'm using a blend of  Lawrie Minson 'tweaked' Spec. 20's with Stainless 
Steel Cover Plates, Special 20's and the Deluxe.Possibly it's because I'm 
often doing full 4 hour shows but still to get these 'lemons' out of the box 
and find it's not up to scratch is a another corporate 'rip-off' in my 
opinion and $55 AUD is not cheap. One really begins to desire the 
'hot-rodded' models [I don't have the time to fiddle around in the shed], 
besides the price, the thing I wonder about is if they are truely long 
lasting instruments with any warrenty for your dollar? When I began playing 
and in the 70's I'd be lucky to meet a blues harmonica player every 5 years. 
Obviously, there are millions of enthusiasts these days. Avid hobbiests, up 
and coming players and many more living the dream. One wonders if since the 
demand has risen the quality has diminished and greed flourished [we only 
have one Hohner distributor over here].. In my collection [and buckets of 
used harps and parts] I have years of various harmonicas. Some diatonics are 
still kicking along pretty well including early Seydels. Harmonicas were 
made with so much more care it seems? I really like the You Tube posts from 
Elk River harps it is very inspiring stuff from Dave. Hopefully one of these 
days I'll sit down and get into it myself but for now, I'm open for 
suggestion on this 'quality' issue because frankly I'm pretty much over 
Hohner products at present and I don't know who to trust anymore? Oh by the 
way I am not a bluegrass player. I play a mix of majorly acoustic country 
blues style and amplified hard blues [Muddy Waters/Lester Butler] and 
[Canned Heat styled] boogie. But heck, one wonders what the hell are guys 
like the amplified Chicago and swing blues guys useing? Do they encounter 
this issue. It seems from over here in Australia in the U.S. players have 
much more choice.  Thats rather enviable.
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