Re: [Harp-L] Harp Tech Books and Tools

[Robert Rowe <robertrowe2@xxxxxxx>]

I am not all that familiar with Richard's materials. I have have made wonderful use of Kinya Pollard's harp tech lessons on blues harmonica.com though. There's already an overwhelming collection of instructional material and video lessons for the aspiring harp tech, and he is constantly adding new material. Harp tech instruction is just one small facet of the harp training material available on bluesharmonica.com. David has put together a mind boggling collection of instructional material and enlisted some of the best subject matter experts to create training materials for their areas of expertise. Give it a good look and see if it meets your needs (probably greatly exceeds them in all areas). 

You get personalized attention and critiques from some of the best players and teachers in the world. It's a pay site, but I save some coin by buying an annual subscription. There are other payment options, but none as cost effective as the annual deal. The cost for two or three live/Skype lessons from any one of the instructors will pay your entire annual fee. I use both. Sometimes there is no substitute for immediate feedback from a live, one on one, teacher. I'm fortunate enough to live less than an hour from one of the top 5 teachers and players in the world (no BS. Not just saying that). If you've never met Larry "The Iceman" Eisenburg you have something to look forward to!

Warning!  Warning!!  Warning!!!  Take an honest inventory of your personality traits. If you are the kind of person that becomes obsessed with learning new things you will do fine with self study for the bulk of your learning, whether it be Richard's book and tools, Seydel and Son master instructional materials, or bluesharmonica.com. If you need the motivation of preparing a weekly lesson to present to a live instructor, this may not be for you. How hungry are you?

Tools. Don't buy kits of tools until you understand why and how to use them. You will no doubt end up with a bag full of tools, only two or three of which actually get used. Kinja show you what you need and where to buy them or fabricate your own. You didn't mention what manufacture's harps you play, but each one has kits that only work on their stuff. See what you really need to complete a tech lesson before you buy the tools to do the job. Some tools you can easily make, and some super-techs make some very good multi-function tools to sell.  Take your time. Work slowly and methodically. A bag of tools and a 2 hour DVD will not make you a harp tech. It takes countless hours of instruction and practice to make a harp tech from scratch. A customizer can take years. 

Lastly, your playing skills have to keep up with your tech skills. Think about it. How will you assess your OB setup on a new harp if you are not real good at OB yourself. You won't know if your tech skill sucks or not. 

Just sayin'...

Kelly

On May 18, 2013, at 8:54 PM, Eric Miller <miller.eric.t@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I'm about to order Richard Sleigh's book and tool kit. Been playing for 7
> months now and all I've done is disassemble and clean my harps.  I need to
> start exploring gapping, embossing, and the other stuff.  I'm practicing a
> lot, and noticing the instrument sounds a little "tired" and the lower
> holes are spongy...I'm getting to the point where I need to tighten them up
> and get them to respond.
> 
> I also need to tune some of my richter harps into powerdraw tuning, which I
> greatly prefer to trying to overblow on a richter.  I struggle with the
> draw bends on the top two holes being screechy, even with good solid
> technique/embouchure.  I'd like to be able to tweak these holes to make
> them sound prettier (like Brendan's upper notes do...nice and clean)
> 
> Any feedback on Richard's book and tools?  Any other sources I should
> consider before purchasing?
> 
> Thanks, as always.