Re: [Harp-L] Chromatic questions

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Sam - 

My review of the Seydel Saxony will be published in a few days at harmonicasessions.com, along with reviews of the Tonica Bends and Suzuki G-48 (Grégoire Maret signature model). Depending on your budget, one of these could serve you very well.

The Toots models are just slightly better 270s, and are held together with nails. The Hard Bopper has thicker reedplates, which will deliver more reed swing and therfore more aggressive sound. But the Saxony has very thin reedplates yet delivers more sound than some harps with thick reedplates (while also responding quickly), so you can't depend on one characteristic to guarnatee anything in particular - an instrument's qualities, even very specific ones, come from several factors.

If you want to spend less that $200, go for a CX-12. Airtight, loud, and responsive. (in two months, harmonicasessions.com will publish my reviews of the CX-12 Jazz and the 270 Deluxe.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Mon, 9/28/09, sam blancato <samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: sam blancato <samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Chromatic questions
To: "Harp-L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Monday, September 28, 2009, 5:17 AM

Hi Everybody,

I'm still hemming and hawing about what chromatics to buy.  I'm still
playing my Ebay bought 270 C and I've got a real nice thick tone with this
harp now but it's leaky and the slide sucks.  My Suzuki Chromatix 16 hole is
a piece of crap - even after having work done on it by a good tech.  

I have a couple of questions for you chromatic players.  Firstly, has anyone
played the Seydel Saxony?  I'd love to read some reviews on this harp.
Secondly, I'm looking seriously at the Toots Hard Bopper; is it held
together with screws or nails?  Is it really louder than the 270?

The last thing is this: My success in getting a good, clear, strong, thick
tone on my 270 relies mainly on tongue-blocking the notes.  Even with the
leaks I can still get enough bend on this harp to produce a nice throat
vibrato.  I've found that the square holes seem to make this easier.
Tongue-blocking over round holes seems more difficult but that's on the
Suzuki which, as I've said, is crap.  Btw, I don't mean to knock the
Chromatix line and all but *mine* sucks; I just got a bad one of something.

I want a harp that is tight enough so that I can start and stop TB-d notes
where I want them to start and stop.  Both my 270 and the Suzuki are very
uncooperative when it comes to decay.  At this point I'm not interested in
playing blues on the chro but more melodic, jazz ballads and swing tunes.
The chord potential is of no interest to me. 

Any input will be appreciated a lot.  Thanks.

Sam Blancato, Pittsburgh 

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