[Harp-L] RE: Out of the box harp

["Bill Kumpe" <bkumpe@xxxxxxx>]

I have three sets of diatonics.  Suzuki's, Special 20's and a mixed set of
Crossovers/Marine Bands.  My experience is very straightforward.  I have
never gotten a bad harp from Suzuki out of the box and every Suzuki I ever
bought is still playable.  In all honesty, I cannot say that for Hohner.
Their quality has gotten better in the past few years but the memory of one
in three or four being bad out of the box still lingers.  I like the sound
of my Special 20's a little better than my Suzukis but most of them have
been tweaked and I intend to have them rebuilt locally when they wear out
instead of buying new ones.  If I give my money to a local technician to
rebuild an S20 for me, I get back a far better than stock harp and have some
recourse if it doesn't work properly.  Shoot, you can't even put a new
Hohner on the "squeeze box" anymore before you buy it to see if it has a bad
reed.  The Crossover/Marine Bands will get the same treatment.  Bottom line,
I'm not buying any more harps from ANYBODY but especially Hohner .... unless
my case gets run over by a truck or something.

Bill Kumpe
Tulsa, OK