Re: [Harp-L] For Sale Vintage 1951 Shure Black CR-81 element HOT 1197 Ohms

[BluzeHarp@xxxxxxx]

Brian Writes:  "The real red flag when buying these is when the  seller is 
a harp player and dosent comment on the tone of the element. What year  and 
the ohms means nothing. Alot of guys buy these and when they turn out to not 
 be as toneful as they wanted they do a  turn around re-selling them. The  
best way to buy a 200.00 element is to get the seller to agree on a refund 
if  you dont like the performance, tone ect. of the element! I hope this post 
 helps my fellow harp players that do not have the experience buying mic 
elements  as some do."
 
In defense of the seller of this element:  "Tone" is a  subjective thing, 
especially as it relates to gear.  For example,  I've had nationally known 
players offer as much as $500 for my favorite  Black CR 'Twin Tone' microphone 
(sorry, it aint for  sale), when others, usually crystal players, just 
shrug  their shoulders after taking it for a ride.  As a mic builder I see  this 
all the time, one person loves the sound of a specific piece of gear  and 
another thinks it's average or even awful.  That's why I encourage  people to 
come & visit and try out a large variety of items before  deciding on what 
they want.  When a face-to-face isn't  practical I encourage a lengthy 
dialogue before they decide,  especially from players newer to amplified 
harmonica.   So, the  'best' way to buy an element, regardless of price, is to try 
it out and compare  it to several others.  Next best is to have that 
conversation as noted  above.  
 
I agree that there are a lot of harp mic scams out there, but I  disagree 
that it's an automatic red flag when a seller doesn't  brag about tone.  Most 
of the frequent ebay sellers (groan) claim  that almost every mic they sell 
has incredible tone, or it's one of the best  they ever heard, or that it's 
some other wonderful and amazing sort of  tone beast... much of the time 
it's just not true.  Even the popular video  ad's can be manipulated, you can 
take almost any crappy sounding mic  and make it sound good in a short clip 
by using a particular  song, amp, tone setting, effects pedal or room 
acoustics... but it's  still a crappy mic.  Even when the tone is good the build  
quality can be poor, so you have to learn a little about that as  well if 
you don't want to buy expensive junk.  
 
To summarize; I suggest that the buyer take claims about tone with a  HUGE 
grain of salt, they are often worthless.  Even when the seller is  sincere, 
YOU may not have the same opinion.  
 
Anyone who wants a good primer on harp mic's can obtain a copy of  my free 
'Harp Mic Buyers Guide'.  Just go to  _www.harmonicaplanet.com_ 
(http://www.harmonicaplanet.com)   and  mouse over the HARP MIC'S tab to request a copy 
via email attachment.   More content is planned for the guide in the future, 
I'll announce here  when the next revision is released.  Element pricing is 
outdated in the  existing version, otherwise it's fairly solid throughout.  
Additional  mic content is planned for the website but I'm currently 
reconfiguring my  shop space, will update the website when that's complete. 
 
Christopher Richards   -   'Twin Tone' Harmonica  Microphones
_www.harmonicaplanet.com_ (http://www.harmonicaplanet.com)