[Harp-L] XB-40 Harp-L Digest, Vol 199, Issue 1

[Richard Hammersley]

I have five XB-40s as I really like their tone and was planning to learn how to play them properly before Hohner stopped making them, so I panic bought a couple more keys - now have G,A,Bb,C,D. But I haven’t played them for about three years now. Why? Because you can bend every note. This sounds like a fantastic idea at first, but at least at my level of technique it was too easy to bend notes by mistake which made for some nice chromatic effects in free improvisation, but made precision highly challenging especially live. Plus on the G and A ones getting bends in the 1st octave took a lot of puff, which could cause problems. Also, a couple of times I inhaled one of the valves in mid performance. They are easy enough to replace, but trying not to swallow a small plastic valve is not a good mood setter. I decided they didn’t work well in live settings except maybe for special effects. One day I may go back to them.

Oh and they’re 32mm from coverplate to coverplate, but the plates are lipped so aside from the lip maybe 30mm. 
Richard
> 
>   2. Hohner XB-40 and Suzuki Manji questions (Ronnie Schreiber)
>   3. Re: Hohner XB-40 and Suzuki Manji questions (Steve)
>   4. Hohner XB-40 and Suzuki Manji questions (Brian Veditz)
>   
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 29 Feb 2020 22:39:32 -0500
> From: Ronnie Schreiber <autothreads at xxxxx>
> To: "harp-l at xxxxx" <harp-l at xxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] Hohner XB-40 and Suzuki Manji questions
> Message-ID: <bbee76ca-2f6d-6da3-39a0-13fb5dfbfe3e at xxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
> 
> If anyone has any experience with the Hohner XB-40, I have a couple of 
> questions:
> 
> 1. How big is it, particularly how tall it is from coverplate to coverplate?
> 
> 2. Does the size of instrument affect playability? Does the fact that it 
> is 'fatter' make it harder to get a good embouchure on the intstrument?
> 
> Regarding the Manji, does the size of the lower coverplate, that's 
> expanded in the area over the bass reeds, affect playability?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2020 12:18:27 +0000
> From: Steve <moorcot at xxxxx>
> To: harp-l harp-l <harp-l at xxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Hohner XB-40 and Suzuki Manji questions
> Message-ID:
> 	<AM5P194MB0129648DCACE8B7859853ACEA2E60 at xxxxx>
> 	
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> As far as I know you can't get XB40s any more, bar odd ones in unusual keys on stray websites...
> 
> I used my two, in low D and G, a lot. They are much louder than other harmonicas.  They do take a fair bit more breath than yer average blues harp.  I adapted very quickly to the larger size, though I did find them a bit unlovable initially (I got over it). Not a problem. They are very durable. My G is still going strong but my D is currently in pieces as I tried to resolve an issue with uneven response at the bottom end. They are a fair challenge to work on if you're just used to blues harps. I must say, I found their fantastic volume to be great in pub sessions and I was very upset when they stopped being available.  I haven't had Manjis. 
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Steve Shaw
> 
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