Re: [Harp-L] History of harp tuning

[Music Cal <macaroni9999@xxxxxxxxx>]

Smo-joe

Thank you. That is an excellent point you made about group 1a and the
under-counting of alt tuning market by using sale figures alone.

Daniel




On Thu, May 15, 2014 at 4:09 PM, Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> On May 15, 2014, at 4:01 PM, Music Cal wrote:
>
> > Steve Baker wrote:
> >
> > "This would appear to refute claims that the introduction of new tuning
> > systems will increase the appeal of the harmonica (whether diatonic or
> > chromatic) and boost sales. Unfortunately the evidence all points the
> other
> > way. "
> >
> > I disagree with the claim you made. Consider these two customer groups:
> >
> > (1) Those that purchase or borrow a standard tuned harp. Out of
> frustration
> > with the pitch layout they lose the desire to play the instrument. No
> > future sales follow.
>
> I would like to add group (1)a. To wit: Those that purchase or borrow a
> standard tuned harp. And out of, and I hesitate to call it frustration, but
> more likely annoyance
> with the pitch layout, they change something so that they don't loose the
> desire to play the instrument. And yes, although future sales follow, they
> do NOT register as
> sales of anything other than standard tunings.
> >
> > (2) Those that purchase or borrow a standard tuned harp. They accept the
> > pitch layout and continue to play the instrument. Future sales follow.
> >
> > The majority of those who would consider playing an alternate tuning
> would
> > be players who have already invested time and money in the playing of the
> > harp.
>
> This makes the most sense.
>
> > That is, they will belong to group (2). It would be a hard sell to
> > get a big fraction of group (2) to switch to an alternate tuning.
>
> This is logical.
>
> > Hence the
> > 2% market number that you gave (I am assuming these are Seydel's numbers
> > since Hohner and Suzuki do not offer alt tunings).
> >
> > So how does a manufacturer appeal to those in group (1)?
>
> Offer alternate tunings. (Such as done with 'so called' country tuning).
> Surharges commensurate with difficulty. Like, for country...no charge.
> Configurator tunings...noticable.
> AND I believe that Seydel, because they have come out from behind the
> 'curtain' only relatively recently, have, out of necessity, to (as Avis
> says), try harder.
>
> smo-joe
>
> > This is not an
> > easy question. Entrenchment of defacto standards have in the past been
> > considerable hurdles to change. But like Brendan I think that a number of
> > factors will change this inertia. I think the manufacturer that figures
> > this out will reap significant rewards. In the meantime the manufacturers
> > might benefit by offering (at extra cost as does Seydel) all of their
> harps
> > in alt tunings so that we can through experimentation play a significant
> > role in helping manufacturers figure this out while enabling us to take
> the
> > art in new directions.
> >
> > Daniel
>
>