Re: [Harp-L] Harp of Choice...



--- Bachman <harptime@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I think many of us would like to know what
> brand and models others are using and perhaps 
> explanations why. 

Okay, I know you don't REALLY want to know what
harps I play, but here goes:

When I gigged regularly I mostly ran with Hohner
Sp-20s because they perform well out of the box and
don't cost an arm and a leg. My band has since
crashed and burned, however, so I've stopped
collecting those, but have a bunch that still get
played.

Then I started using the new Marine Band Deluxe
harps and found that after setting them up (I'm
getting pretty good at that now), I like them
alot... but they do require a bit of setting up to
get past their stock Marine Band status as far as
reeds and reedplates go. Very nice harps. I call
them my "custom-stock" harps. :-)

Also in my case are a number of Hering Vintage 1923
harps, which have great response and excellent just
tuning. Fabulous tonal properties right out of the
box. These harps need a little setting up too, but
can be made in to great harps relatively easily.

After that, I have a small colletion of custom
harps -- some nice T-Bones and a Honeycomb from Tim
Moyer (highly recommended!), a low-D MB from Bob
Meehan and a spectacularly well set up harp from
Brad Harrison that I bought in 2000 (still my
favorite custom to play).

Now that I'm trying to encorporate some overbends
in my playing I've found that the custom harps
really helped me along my way because of the ease
of overbending on a well-set up harp. Now I can get
OBs on the harps I've set up myself, but I'm not
sure I would have gotten there without those
customs to play on and get my technique down. Tim's
Honeycomb in C was my greatest asset when I finally
got more serious about learning to hit all the OBs.

I also play some chromatic and own several Hering
12-hole models in various keys and a 16-hole model,
one Hohner Super-64 set up by Bill Romel (that
currently needs a reed replacement) and an
abolutely beautiful Hohner 270 in G that was
customized for me by Brendan Power. It now has a
round mouthpiece, a plastic comb, never seems to
get flap buzz, and has tone for days. Love that
harp.

In addition, I have a small collection of oddball
harps -- Lee Oskar minor tuned, a Melody Maker, a
Vinetta chord, some Echo and Tremolo harps, a solo
tuned Marine Band and 2 SBS Marine Bands that I
like. 

Oh, I also love to try new harps and have onesies
and twosies of the following: Bushman Soul's Voice,
Bushman Delta Frost, Suzuki Pro Harp and Overdrive.


Most recently I picked up a couple of Seydel Blues
Favorite Black harps. These are ~excelent~ harps as
they overblow well right out of the box, but I
found them both to be tuned quite sharp (around
A=445 or so) and so was required to de-tune them to
get them down into a 19-limit just intonation
centered around A=441 that I like. But very well
made harps, however. Very substantial and
responsive.

That's about it. Now I'm looking forward to SPAH
where I plan on adding to my collection. 

Harpin' in Colorado,
--Ken M.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 




This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.