[Harp-L] Best Out-of-the-Box harp for bends & overblows?

[Laurent Vigouroux]

Hello Tom

>But if we are going to call them Out-of-the-Box Harmonicas, then why would we not classify all custom harmonicas as Out-of-the-Box Harmonicas?
I fully agree on this and my post expressed exactly that, didn't it?
"if you're looking for an overblow ready harp, you would either have to buy a Hohner/Suzuki/seydel harp from a customizer (It's generally much more expensive than a stock harp, which is normal considering the work done by the customizer) or choose one of these two options: ...torpedo, ...arkia"

Regarding the stock harps, I really don't think we can classify any of them as overblow friendly.
Yes you can obtain overblows when you know the technique but it's not what I would call playable overblow friendly harps.
I have yet to hear someone playing chromatically in tune and with a good sound on an out of the box harp. 
Of course it can happen that a harp has by chance the gaps well setup, but it would one out of dozens.

A student learning overblow would have a lot of difficulties to learn the technique on them.

I really think we harmonica players should invest more in our instruments and aim at learning to play the harmonica as any other instrument.
Buying stock harps and forcing a few overblows on them in a blues context is not bad for this given style, but my believe is that there is another path which is worth the effort. A personal matter for sure