Re: [Harp-L] Suzuki SUB-30 review

["jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx" <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Oct 23, 2012, at 1:47 PM, Mike Fugazzi <mikefugazzi@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Be kind as this was done mostly in haste to a post on another forum...it was early, I hadn't had any coffee, and I wasn't sure what I was going to share, lol...But some thoughts on the SUB30 in general.  

I can sympathize--when I have to work early everyone in my shop knows not to even bother asking me anything before 8am.  Just point me to a task and let me do it in sleepwalk mode.

> Having played five now (with more on the way) since August,

Sounds like you are enjoying them.  The video was quite thorough--caffeine be damned. The main points I took from it were to gap the harmonica for yourself (which is so important but gets overlooked) and to take your time learning it.  It sounds like those who go into it expecting another MB clone will disappointed.


> I would wager most players, unless they are already good at overbends, will find the learning curve frustrating.  By this I mean they'll expect instant gratification out of the box.  

As is typical.  The XB-40 received many of the same complaints as I hear about the SUB-30.  There were others as well, but in both cases I read a lot of "I just got it and it isn't exactly like my Marine Band so it sucks".  I find patience works best--it took me years to get used to Wiener construction double reed harps.  I would try a tremolo on and off for years and it just didn't click.  Then one day it became familiar--I would hit the right notes when I wanted and play the right riffs.  I think too often with a new type of harp, we assume that all of experience will come into play and we will be experts at it.  It won't.  The experience on other harps might help make the process go faster, but in many ways one is a back to being a newbie.  

But is that a bad thing.  When is one more excited than when one is a newbie.  When is the obsession stronger the when we barely know what we're doing.  Embrace that.


> The notes are there, here for yourself, but you have to figure out how it works and take the time to discover the do's and don't's.  I find that since August, I can play them without making any unwanted sympathetic reed noises, etc.

In this it sounds similar to another Suzuki: the Overdrive.  It took a while to familiarize myself with it, but once I do I find that squeals and the like are easily avoided.  In both cases I'm guessing that heavy breath playing is not the intent of the design--but can be achieved with practice.  

As for your last point, I'm not sure if harps like the SUB-30 are the future or not, but they make for an interesting present.  And mostly, I want to get one ASAP.



JR Ross