[Harp-L] The New Golden Melody and Overblow Harps from the factory

[Laurent Vigouroux]

Hello

While I agree the number of overblowers is most probably very small compared to the mass of harmonicas produced annually, I find it weird how we are the only instrument with no big factory high end products for advanced players.
And actually even a few 1/1000s of the total can mean an interesting number of players.

But I guess this will stay the exclusivity of small companies (as pointed out by Steve) … till the time when the overblowers market is big enough for the big companies to have interest in.
They will then have to (try to) buy one of the small companies, which are innovating at the moment.

While a bit similar to software (where big companies pay very expensive amounts to buy small innovating companies), I don’t think it is of the same magnitude, as there will always be lots of casual players who don’t care about overblows. Time will tell.

By the way, an overblow ready harp doesn’t have to have very small gaps. Arkia harps can be played hard. The innovation lies somewhere else.
Plus, high end harps are also better for regular bending, not only overblows.

Cheers

Laurent

De : Harp-L <harp-l-bounces at xxxxx> de la part de Tom Halchak <info at xxxxx>
Date : lundi, 27 février 2023 à 17:22
À : harp-l at xxxxx <harp-l at xxxxx>
Objet : [Harp-L] The New Golden Melody and Overblow Harps from the factory
I wonder what percentage of harmonica players use overblows and overdraws
in their playing.  My guess would be about 1-2%.  I could be wrong.  Maybe
it is 10% or 20%.  But whatever it is, players who use overblows and
overdraws are clearly in the minority.  A similar question would be, what
percentage of harmonica players subscribe to harp-l.org or participate in
any of the harmonica-centric groups on Facebook?  Again, my guess is that
it is a very small percentage of the overall harmonica playing population.
Most harmonica players have never even heard of overblows and have no idea
what they are.  Even many who have been in the middle of these
conversations for years reject overblows out of hand because they are
either too difficult or because “Little Walter never used them”.  The
notion that Hohner or any of the other major harmonica manufacturers should
be setting up the harps they produce for overblows and overdraws is a bit
silly.  Overblow harps are set up much tighter than stock harps.  The
average harmonica player would hardly be able to get a note out of an
overblow harp.  They play too hard and force too much air though the harp.
The reeds would choke.  Hohner has no choice but to set their harps up for
the average player.  If a skilled player requires a tighter harp to
facilitate overblows and overdraws, he will need to figure out how to
adjust his harmonicas himself or find someone who can do it for you.  Or,
perhaps, find a small company that caters to that particular  niche of
harmonica players.

Tom

--
*Tom Halchak*
*Blue Moon Harmonicas LLC*
*P.O. Box 14401 Clearwater, FL 33766*