Robert Laughlin wrote:
I wonder if anyone has ever gone to the trouble of compiling a list of
the
various preferred gear collection of working or non-working harpists?
It would be nice to compare, at a glance, who uses which harps, how
many
artists use customized vs stock harps. Which artists are company
shills,,er,,I mean, sponsored by a particular company,,hehe.
I mean, realistically, at least here on harp-l, it seems that several
of
the members are also reps for particular companies, so one has to take
that
into account when deciding on whose advice to take, in making brand or
model choices.
At one time I ran a feature on my site called the Pro Pages, which
(among other things) listed the gear choices of prominent players. You
can see what ran on those pages here:
http://www.hunterharp.com/propage1/
As you'll see on those pages, pros, like everybody else, use a wide
range of gear. At this point in time, harmonica players are interested
in lots of different musical styles, and gear choices have never been
more numerous, less expensive, or of higher quality, so it's no surprise
that if you sample three pros, you'll find more than three different
setups.
And that brings us to the bigger issue: the implication in this post
that pro harp players are shills for gear makers. The short answer to
that implication is that it's all wrong. When a pro harp player
recommends a harp or an amp, it's not at all the same as J Lo appearing
in a cosmetics ad. J Lo doesn't have to rely on those cosmetics to get
her through a performance; the harp player does. If a piece of gear
isn't effective, a pro won't keep using it. When the pro discovers
something that works better for him, he'll switch. The switch is very
rarely about which manufacturer is dangling the best deal; it's about
what gear is inspiring the pro to great performances. Pros who have a
lot of intellectual curiosity, like Charlie Musselwhite, tend to try
lots of different gear over the years. Why not? When the gear is
getting better all the time, you might as well try it.
FYI, I make my own gear choices pretty plain on my site, and I am not
sponsored by anyone. Every piece of gear I use on stage and in studio
was purchased with my own money. I use the stuff because it inspires
me, and I make the Digitech RP sounds I developed for my own use
available to others in the hope that those sounds will inspire them too.
In the end, regardless of what a given pro is using, the gear you want
is the gear that makes a sound that inspires you, whatever that sound
is.
Regards, Richard Hunter
author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
Latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
Twitter: lightninrick