[Harp-L] Nail polish and bubbles

[Robert Coble]

Frank, I included your post below because apparently it has not made it to the Harp-L Archive yet, and I wanted the context to be there.

I'll second that "Hip hip hooray for Brendan, Vern and all the harp-ler's who are just crazy enough to keep on harpin till the end of time!"

I know Vern personally. I only know Brendan indirectly, through his magnificent work and email. Both of these men are people I trust, based on their proven behavior over time.

As for a "conspiracy" between Vern and Brendan or others:

Sorry, but these guys have the highest integrity in (or out of) the harmonica business. If they didn't, in short order they would no longer have a business, much less a world-wide reputation for high quality. There is an extremely small number of top-shelf harp "mechanics" in the world of harmonica, compared to the number of harmonica "players". (I put "mechanics" and "players" in quotes to emphasize that I do NOT mean this in any derogatory way.) The last time I looked, the fabled Filisko Guild had 4 members; it may have expanded since then. Lower down the totem pole, there are all the rest of us. In my own limited way, I got a chance to experience this firsthand. After the one SPAH that I attended back in 2011, a pretty good harp player gave me the opportunity to repair dozens of his old harmonicas. I cleaned them and retuned them all - at $5 per harp. If I replaced a reed, it cost $10. My explicit "guarantee" to him was that I would redo any work for FREE if he was not totally satisfied. I even replaced one of his more expensive harmonicas with a new one for FREE because I goofed it up while working on it. (I caught my screwup before I returned it to him.) I only have one steady customer now. I've never had any harp returned for a redo. And the answer is "NO" for adding any new customers; I'm retired.

My two cents worth,
Crazy Bob

________________________________
From: F F <franze52 at xxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2019 8:29 AM
To: bren at xxxxx; Robert Coble
Cc: David Pearce; Wilbur Euler; Tom Halchak; Steve; Rick Dempster; Joseph Leone; Steve Baker; Harp-l at xxxxx; Vern
Subject: Re: Nail polish and bubbles

Everyone loves to hate conspiracy theorist, so with that in mind please let me proceed...

Is it possible that Vern is in co-hoots with Brendan and the other professional player/customizers - to get them more business while he gets a cut of the profits for all the publicity this topic is giving to the importance of using a "customized harp" in order to experience a more supreme pleasure  when putting harp to mouth to create sound.

If anything good and noble comes from this topic, it should be --- sending Vern free professionally customized harps in every key for him to use for a month, then have them all sold together, "not separately" and the proceeds sent a charity.

Hip hip hooray for Brendan, Vern and all the harp-ler's who are just crazy enough to keep on harpin till the end of time :) Frank