Re: [Harp-L] Small High-Tech Harmonica Makers: The Future?

[Mike <mikefugazzi@xxxxxxxxx>]

The immediate future is in aftermarket upgrades for niche players due to 
accessibility of technology.  Reed material, tuning, combs, covers, and 
personalization are all solid niches right now.  That being said, those are 
things that make little sense for large companies to put a lot of resources 
into due to costs and relatively small sales.  We've seen a burst in 
"professional" grade harps in the $40+ range that rival what many custom 
builders were doing 10+ years ago.  

It generally takes a 100 years to make a large scale paradigm shift.  Two 
harp examples would be the Marine Band 1896 and Seydel 1847.  The Marine 
Band has not had a significant change in design in over 100 years...just 
little tweaks in design and materials.  The 1847 is groundbreaking in the 
use of steel, but is generally considered to be a regular diatonic 
harmonica.

In the grand scheme of things, the yearning to do more on the diatonic is 
relatively new and only a small percentage of players are hip to the idea. 
  This is probably advantageous to smaller cottage industries.  The SUB 30 
is a great example of a step forward, and hopefully niche markets can begin 
to support a larger paradigm change where quality and consistency aren't 
the only focus of the 10 hole diatonic.  While I am inclined to believe it 
will do so, that will take quite a bit of time.  If you follow the bell 
curve of paradigm shift, the percentage of early adopters is relatively 
small.  It takes years and generations to really establish a new approach.

Following overbending as an example is quite fascinating.  It is something 
that is relatively easy to setup and do (well, overblows in most keys are) 
relative to the overall playablity of a current production harp.  That 
being said, the overwhelming majority of players have nothing to do with 
the technique and still insist it is extremely difficult both technique and 
gear wise.  Now again, I am talking functionality relative to the standard 
of most harps from the factory - I am not saying the situation is optimal. 
 We could discuss the impact of alloys, production, and quality control and 
how it made overbending difficult relative today, but let's not.  Let's 
look at it from just one very small shift in thinking.

It is often brought up that overbends are note that aren't supposed to be 
there and they sound too different in pitch and timbre from the other notes 
to be considered useable.  This is not a strawman argument and a search of 
the archives would confirm that.  However, it is now accepted that draw and 
blow bends, the very corner stone of blues playing in cross harp, are an 
absolutely paramount aspect of how we judge harp quality and an immediate 
prerequisite to proficient playing.

However, the diatonic was NOT designed to draw and blow bend in the EXACT 
same way it wasn't designed to overbend.  It just happens you can.  In 
addition, those bends for 100% change the timbre of the instrument, and the 
construction of the instrument varies the ability of a player to control 
those bends.  Also, it is WIDELY accepted that those bent notes need not be 
in pitch with other instruments to sound "right", or as they are generally 
referred to, "bluesy".

To a rational non-harmonica player, traditional bends and overbends would 
easily be perceived as the same thing in almost every regard, yet harmonica 
players for years have insisted that they are different.  It is only just 
starting to become more sociably acceptable to use them, etc.  And the sad 
truth is only a sliver of harmonica players would have any clue what I am 
even talking about.  

Point of long post being:  We are at the beginning of a large paradigm 
shift in diatonic harmonica playing that has begun in the last 15-25 years. 
 As more and more of the masses have access to these changes - not everyone 
can order a harp from Joe Filisko - more and more people will pursue and 
many will take hold.  If music were to survive another 100 years, and pop 
music would lend me to be skeptical, I would bet we'd see a much larger 
paradigm shift relative to 1896-1996.  If you compare harp to guitars, or 
pianos, or brass instruments, it is VERY hard to be different and make it 
stick.






On Thursday, December 13, 2012 3:06:28 AM UTC-6, Brendan Power wrote:
>
> Though I have so-far been the public face of our new business X-Reed.com, 
> I 
> must point the spotlight on my partner: Zombor Kovacs. And that brings up 
> a 
> wider issue about the future of harmonica making. 
>
> I've been tinkering with harps ever since I started playing, but only have 
> hand-tool skills to test my ideas. Zombor is not only very inventive when 
> it 
> comes to harmonica design in his own right, but he has the CAD and CNC 
> knowledge to refine our ideas down to minute precision parts that can be 
> replicated. 
>
> Our X-Reed OverValve Plate is a case in point. I came up with the idea and 
> made a couple of prototypes by hand. They worked, but were laboriously 
> slow 
> to make and had the natural irregularities that come from hand work. 
>
> Zombor took the idea, put it into his CAD software and ironed out the 
> kinks 
> to create a precision designed part that could be machined. Then it got 
> transferred to his milling machine and these amazingly accurate finely 
> detailed parts arise from blank material before our eyes. It still seems 
> magical to me! 
>
> It's really stimulating working with someone who has a similarly restless 
> brain but who can transform ideas from crufty hand-made prototypes to 
> slick 
> products that could have come out of any high-tech factory - all in the 
> comfort of your own home workshop. And we are not alone. 
>
> Because harmonicas are so small, they really suit this new world of mixing 
> small workshops with high-tech machinery. It's now affordable and 
> user-friendly for anyone with a mechanical bent - not just CNC but 3D 
> Printing as well. 
>
> Just as home studios revolutionised the music industry, I think the small 
> high-tech harmonica operation is destined to make quite an impact in the 
> harmonica scene in the years to come. Making reeds is about the only area 
> that the big manufacturers still have the edge. It's not insignificant 
> (!), 
> but the tech exists now for the small guy to have a go at even this 
> formidable barrier. 
>
> Whatever your opinion about his business model, you have to hand it to 
> Brad 
> Harrison for having a good crack at that final frontier. He made his own 
> reeds, and in a new way. I really hope his pioneering work is not wasted 
> and 
> someone else takes his technology forward. 
>
> Any news on what's happening with that, by the way? 
>
>   
>
> Brendan Power 
>
> www.x-reed.com 
>
>   
>
>   
>
>