Re: [Harp-L] Re: The Future of Blues Harmonica?

[Mike Fugazzi <mikefugazzi@xxxxxxxxx>]

I love this:

"The diatonic harmonica is the biggest selling instrument in the world in 
terms of units sold, yet a lot of its modern history is shrouded in rumour 
and secrecy. It's fascinating and important to hear from the pioneers who 
paved the way for the advances that we take for granted today."

One thing to take from that quote is the first half of the first 
sentence...Harmonica is the biggest selling instrument in the world. 
 Meaning, a huge percentage of sales have nothing to do with highly skilled 
players.  Even less occupy the niche of trying to play chromatically on the 
diatonic.  The market doesn't really demand many of the things we ask for 
on this list or other harmonica forums.  The demand and money if for the 
beginner and typical folk/blues players.  

Businesses aren't dumb.  They make more money selling cheap harps.  Look 
how long it took for the 30 reed harmonica to get as far as it is today. 

On Wednesday, September 12, 2012 5:04:14 AM UTC-5, Brendan Power wrote:
>
> Mik Jagger states: 
> "Seems like an old asian practice of stealing the intellectual property 
> from the west, without giving credit to where the idea/ engineering came 
> from." 
>
>   
>
> ??... Seems like the old Western practice of shooting your mouth off in 
> total ignorance of the facts. 
>
>   
>
> The intellectual property behind the Suzuki UltraBend wasn't stolen, I 
> gave 
> it to the company under a Non-Disclosure Agreement in 1991 in the form of 
> a 
> working prototype I made in New Zealand in 1989. We developed it together 
> for two years, simplifying the design and reducing the size, and were 
> ready 
> to patent the design by 1994, prior to releasing a commercial 30 reed 
> harmonica the size of a normal 10 hole diatonic. 
>
>   
>
> Then we discovered a patent by Rick Epping for 30 and 40 reed harmonicas 
> (application 1991, granted in two forms 1993/94) that covered the concept, 
> and Suzuki stopped work at that point. Only after Rick's patent expired in 
> 2008 did Suzuki restart work on our 30 reed design, and that has come out 
> in 
> the SUB30 UltraBend. 
>
>   
>
> You can read a partial history of the idea here, with photos: 
>
> http://www.brendan-power.com/History%20of%20the%20UltraBend.htm 
>
>   
>
> I say 'partial' because, aside from the three persons mentioned there 
> (Will 
> Scarlett, Rick Epping and myself), it now transpires that at least two 
> others thought of the extra reed idea and tried to make prototypes in the 
> 1980s - namely Richard Sleigh and Pat Missin. Their efforts weren't fully 
> successful and they also let the idea drop after Rick's patent came out. 
>
>   
>
> Though I didn't know it until the mid-1990s, it turned out that Will 
> Scarlett was the very first person to conceive a triple-reed harmonica, 
> and 
> he showed the idea to Rick Epping in 1982 (not 1987 as I say in the 
> article 
> at the link above). 
>
>   
>
> I know this now because Will has agreed to tell his story in the upcoming 
> issue of the UK "Harmonica World" magazine, due out in October. Will was 
> also the first person to use overblows on a consistent basis and try to 
> play 
> a 10 hole harp chromatically in 12 keys, which he did in the early 1970s 
> (his efforts are recorded on the  first two Hot Tuna albums). 
>
>   
>
> It's a very interesting read. Will and Rick famously fell out over the 
> issue 
> and battled it out in the US patent courts in the 90s, and Will talks 
> about 
> that in the article. But whatever you think of their respective positions, 
> both men are seminal figures in the modern history of Blues harmonica. 
> Rick 
> did undeniably take the extra-reed idea further on from Will's pioneering 
> work, and his 1994 patent (plus another one in 2002) paved the way for the 
> first commercial harmonica with extra reeds, the Hohner XB-40. 
>
>   
>
> Rick Epping has consented to talk of his early harmonica experiments in a 
> later issue of "Harmonica World". In addition to being known for the 
> XB-40, 
> not many of the thousands of people who tweak their harps today realise 
> that 
> Rick is the inventor of the process we now call "embossing". He will 
> describe when and how he developed the technique and passed it on to the 
> names we know today (Joe Filisko and his many collaborators/followers). 
>
>   
>
> Richard Sleigh worked with Joe on advancing the technique, and also did 
> much 
> harmonica experimenting on his own in the 70s/80s/90s. It would be great 
> to 
> hear his story too! 
>
>   
>
> The diatonic harmonica is the biggest selling instrument in the world in 
> terms of units sold, yet a lot of its modern history is shrouded in rumour 
> and secrecy. It's fascinating and important to hear from the pioneers who 
> paved the way for the advances that we take for granted today. 
>
>   
>
> Brendan Power 
>
> WEBSITE: www.brendan-power.com <http://www.brendan-power.com/> 
>
> FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/tethnik 
>
> YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic 
>
>   
>
>