Fwd: [Harp-L] B-Radical -- why is it great?

[Rick Dempster <rickdempster33@xxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rick Dempster <rickdempster33@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: 9 March 2016 at 10:04
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] B-Radical -- why is it great?
To: Vern <jevern@xxxxxxx>


One thinks "Tucker Torpedo", "Delorean". I think Vern was talking about
making reeds, not reed plates.
The thing that occurs to me first and foremost, as being the most difficult
and expensive, is, indeed, reed plates.
I hadn't even got as far as the reeds. Joe Leone, if I recall correctly,
once mentioned making a reed out of a
razor blade.
RD

On 9 March 2016 at 05:34, Vern <jevern@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> > On Mar 8, 2016, at 9:13 AM, Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >
> > I fear that along with his and customers losses, Brad has also lost the
> harmonica world as a place where he could belong and feel comfortable.
> Truly a shame.
> > As I don't think he has a malicious bone in his body.
> > smo-joe
>
> IMOââ
>
> With the best of intentions, he undertook to produce a superior
> made-in-America harmonica.  His sun-aimed arrow alighted in the dust.  He
> knew exactly the result that he was aiming for.  Sadly, he lacked the
> engineering and business acumen to bring it about. He underestimated the
> technical difficulties and costs of mass-producing reeds assembled into
> functioning reed plates. When it turned out that assembling the harps
> required uneconomical amounts of man-hours, he hired  more people to tweak
> them, raising his costs and entering a death spiral.
>
> Unfortunately, his advertising included exaggerated, unsupported claims
> and metallurgical nonsense.  What may have been over-enthusiasm seemed to
> me to be deliberately misleading.
>
> As the enterprise encountered these technical and economic problems, he
> dodged the questions of irate customers (especially at the SPAH B-Rad
> progress report seminar) and hid behind a screen of proprietary
> secrecyâ.acts that did not endear him to the people  who placed orders and
> paid money.
>
> Philâs reference to Hansonâs Razor is spot-on. :  "Donât attribute to
> malice what can be explained by stupidity.â  I would soften this by
> replacing âstupidityâ with ânaiveteâ.
>
> IF he made a humble, detailed apology; explaining what went wrong, what he
> was thinking at the time, and what he has learned, I think that the
> harmonica community might once again accept him. she should answer
> questions openly.  He could correct these speculations.  It would make an
> interesting narrative.
>
> Vern
>
>
>
>
>