....."Harrison Harmonicas is extremely pleased to welcome two of the world’s most renowned harmonica customizers, Richard Sleigh and Joe Spiers to the HH family!"
"The dynamic duo of harmonica craftsmen will be performing some of the most highly-skilled tasks in B-radical production, setting action and fine tuning."
Harrison ----------
Last Edited by on Nov 19, 2010 10:16 AM
Very interesting! Richard was already doing repair work on any of Brad's custom Marine Bands from before the B-Rad. This should bump the quality up a notch from very good to sweet. Not a full on Buddha harp quality but a move up. Wonder if this will affect cost, hope it will speed up production, will Richard still do Marine Band fixes, can early B-rads be sent in for this level of service?
@Chinaski - ya, me too. (key A, 4 draw has gone south) Guess that will continue to be one of his duties in between bench time with the B-rads. Pretty tickled that someone of Richards caliber will be tweaking my baby. Can't wait to see the results. ---------- MBH Webbrain FerretCat Webbrain
Last Edited by on Nov 19, 2010 11:12 AM
Something just doesn't add up to me. Obviously I don't know the capacity in which those two will work with Harrison, but last night's episode of The Office keeps popping up in my head.
Harrison also brings to mind the internal conflict of a bar owner also trying to book bands at the club...people exceeding their area of expertise...
Obviously they have a ton of harmonica building talent, but is the business model really in place? Is there really a plan? Public evidence would have n the Harrison Harps online, at SPAH, etc, but I just have a bad feeling.
IMO, if you are sporatically and randomly shipping harps to people that have specific expectations for the harmonica as being a revolutionary OOTB harp and then continually adding harp builders to refine the product before you're caught up on presales, you are probably going to end up shipping "better" harps to people still waiting for them...I could go on but don't want to.
I am sorry, but it smells to me like someone started to run before they could crawl. And the B-Rad's are custom harps...they are not just massed produced...they are custom harps...and having tried a couple, you can get other custom harps that player the same if not better. ---------- Mike VHT Special 6 Amp for Harp Blog
Last Edited by on Nov 19, 2010 11:23 AM
With these guys on the line - It's almost silly calling these 'production' harmonicas. - More like a 'default set up' custom (so what if that's an oxymoron) - Until I get mine (promised delivery in 2 months - going on 9) - it's all 'vaporware' to me. It would be nice to get a Spiers or Sleigh set up harp built on the B-Rad though.
I work for myself. I have my own ideas. I do my own thing. That's how it was left.
I've already influenced HH. Brad nearly shat himself when he played one of my harps at SPAH. The different color combs. The peppermint flavor. The non-lacquered combs that hand sanded to a gloss finish. He did a few things the reed slots that I was not fond of and he said he was going to change that too.
Wait a minute...who's following and who's innovating?
I wonder if HH will be making their combs out of their old clothes next? LOL!!!
The one great thing about Brad is he's always fluid and making little changes on the fly. Every time I talk to him he talks about tweaking the reed profiles which is a good idea because the B-rads I tried at SPAH were all out of tune and they weren't very old at all. I'm sure he has that issue fixed by now. I'm glad he has Joe and Richard working for them. I always thought it was a sub-standard idea to hire people who have zero interest in the harmonica to set up and tune the reeds. You can't just take a person off the street and show them that stuff and expect to have good results. I recently received a B-Rad from one of my customers. He hated it and I understand why. This particular B-Radical was worse than a new manji or crossover. Bluesharper, that's the same one I let you try. Now I've played some of Branson's and Jay Gaunt's harps and they were superb! Jay told me a couple of days ago that his new B-Rads are even better so I'm excited for the harmonica community that they can finally get a good out of the box production harp.
---------- "I am a great believer in understanding, not copying."
Here's the full email that I received, if anyone's interested:
Harrison Harmonicas is extremely pleased to welcome two of the world’s most renowned harmonica customizers, Richard Sleigh and Joe Spiers to the HH family! Sleigh and Spiers are well-known throughout the global harmonica community for their work optimizing harmonicas. The dynamic duo of harmonica craftsmen will be performing some of the most highly-skilled tasks in B-radical production, setting action and fine tuning. “This has a far greater impact on the future of Harrison Harmonicas than just allowing us to increase production – without sacrificing any quality – as we work through our backlog,” said company founder Brad Harrison. “These are two of the greatest minds in the harmonica world – their expertise and input will be a valuable asset as we strive to make our incredible instruments even better. This is truly the best of the best in the U.S. coming together to make the finest harmonicas the world has ever seen!” Sleigh said he is looking forward to the collaboration of the three minds. “I like working with people who have different ideas,” he said. “I’ve always expected that the harmonica could move in this direction. I’ve known lots of people with ideas, but it is very rare for somebody to stick with something and make it happen the way Brad can and does. We get an idea and then Brad makes it happen incredibly quickly.” Spiers said the Harrison reeds – the vibrating strips of metal from which the magical sound of the B-radical originates – are by far the best he has ever seen and he’s glad to be onboard. “I’m very excited to see where this leads," Spiers said. Sleigh, likewise, is greatly impressed with the reeds. “I’ve worked with reeds for 25 years and these reeds are beyond anything I have ever experienced. This is going to be fun! “ he said. This message was sent by: Harrison Harmonicas, 605 Fulton Ave., Rockford, IL 61103
I'd love to shat in my pants...peppermint...yuk. How about something citrus tasting? Orange, tangerine, or maybe cherry?..essential oil? though, I can dig the bad breath factor with peppermint....I hear Buddha's are unique and special. MP has one coming...I'm just not fully aware of HOW special these are... Nothing worse than foul tasting breath all over your harp, then miss an oppurtunity to impress a dedicated fan with a kiss on the lips......patoooie! Ofcourse, I wouldn't know anything about bad breath, mine is always fresh and sweet. I'm getting excited at the oppurtunity of having one of those Harrsion harps. How much? And don't tell me, "If I have to ask, I shouldn't have one." ha! You have my blessings..this is just what the industry is looking for...ha! Hohner? step aside... Now..only thing in my way, it seems, is a more responsive harmonica. And being able to trust it will deliver, price will not be a huge factor. Try to keep the price down, please.
"I always thought it was a sub-standard idea to hire people who have zero interest in the harmonica to set up and tune the reeds. You can't just take a person off the street and show them that stuff and expect to have good results."
Buddha puts the whole thing in a nutshell there. I touched on that in the recent prewar MB thread: a nonplayer can gap a harmonica via a visual formula up to a certain level of resulting harp performance, i.e. prewar Hohners. If the factories today would just have live human beings doing that to ensure that the automated gapping pattern has successfully been executed, we'd have pretty good harps, up to a point--and it would also cost significantly more, just to pay a person to do that quality control step.
I assume that Harrison is trying to automate harmonica quality to an unprecedented level of quality, but the irony in that is that then you need a quality control person with customizer-level skills to assess the results of the automated process and correct anything that needs correcting. That's what Buddha is saying, I think, and what the people who've complained about Harrison wait times don't seem to understand. Check the archives and you'll see that people who do high-level customizing do not criticize Harrison's delays, because they understand too well what's involved, even if they haven't talked to Harrison about it.
Don't assume that Sleigh or Spiers will be customising production B-Radicals the way they do Marine Bands--just making sure B-Radicals play the way they're supposed to will be plenty for now, that recent improvement in quality that Buddha mentions. They can just augment production at their own speed, piecework really--both those guys have been ingenious at devising tools/methods to speed up (relatively) production of their customs, and I'm sure they'll do likewise with B-Rads.
That's not boilerplate when they say they're happy with quick changes from the factory or the unique Harrison reeds themselves--serious customisers prefer better raw material, whether for basic setup or advanced processes. S&S are probably doing the equivalent of a Stage 1 setup, just blueprinting the harp, but that's what Harrisons (like any harp) need to deliver their full potential to the customer. I doubt they'll butt heads with Brad--now they have a factory that listens to them better, and I think they'll enjoy having input without the responsibility of running the factory themselves.
Yeah, if the flavors are custom, then I'd go for pomegranate, maybe.
There are two possible reasons for hiring Sleigh and Spiers.
a) to speed-up production, in which case it's a good call
b) More R&D, in which case BH has OCD and he's doomed. He's also self-contradictory, as Harrison's original premise was that he'd done all the R&D for a production harp.
This makes it sound like option b) holds sway: -
"Sleigh said he is looking forward to the collaboration of the three minds. 'I like working with people who have different ideas,' he said. 'I've always expected that the harmonica could move in this direction.'"
Well, it ain't moving in any direction if BH doesn't produce.
But since I'm getting kind of sick of this situation, perhaps I should just butt out. ---------- Andrew, gentleman of leisure, noodler extraordinaire.
I'm helping with option a), htownfess pretty much nails it.
I'm still doing my own thing too, so anyone waiting for my harps shouldn't worry about this affecting that. I'm bound by a non-disclosure agreement with Harrison Harmonicas, so won't be fielding questions. Besides, I have to get back to work!
I don't know much about harp customization, but I'm friends with Richard and the only two custom harps I own were made by Spiers (aka harpwrench). As a business decision, this strikes me as beyond reproach. Brad has brought in two of the top customizers in the world; each of them has many friends and fans in the expanding subculture of people who actually put money down for custom harps. The B-Radical is trying to narrow the difference between OTS harps and custom harps. How can the whole production-line process not benefit from this? It's a very shrewd move--a brave one, in fact. Kudos
Last Edited by on Nov 20, 2010 10:53 AM
@Andrew: Either you haven't read the press release (quoted in the OP) and harpwrench's own comment on this just above, or you're calling Brad and Joe liars. I have to assume it's the former.
Nothing wrong with continually trying to improve a product.
What concerns me more is whether, once you've stripped away the spin-doctorisms, the real message in this might be that longitudinal milling, radical reed profiles/flex-point technology and space age design don't actually amount to anything that special unless a top notch customiser (Brad, Dave Payne, Richard Sleigh and Joe Spiers all in the team now) sets the reeds?
Now that all the initial hype is fading and the product is finally in the hands of a few players, is it really standing up to the promise? Is it 6 times better than an out of the box harp or is it just a little bit better, but with huge R&D and business startup costs to recoup with a single product?
Still nothing reassuring enough to make me fork out £200 on a diatonic.
Last Edited by on Nov 20, 2010 1:32 PM
OK, Adam, I agree with you now, mostly. This sentence was the important one that I missed: -
"The dynamic duo of harmonica craftsmen will be performing some of the most highly-skilled tasks in B-radical production, setting action and fine tuning."
Although this sentence implies that Brad might not be able to leave alone: -
“This has a far greater impact on the future of Harrison Harmonicas than just allowing us to increase production"
In this sentence I think I must have confused Sleigh with Brad: - "Sleigh said he is looking forward to the collaboration of the three minds. 'I like working with people who have different ideas,' he said.
However, this sentence doesn't seem to contain much truth so far: -
“We get an idea and then Brad makes it happen incredibly quickly.”
Andrew.
P.S. On the other hand, I'm sure the DeLorean's press release made impressive reading, but...
Last Edited by on Nov 20, 2010 1:55 PM
LOL!!!! hmmm ..single malt! great idea! ..or how about edible harps?...yeah, THAT's the ticket! nahhhhh!...might get expensive if they taste tooo good. Bring a whole new meaning to creating your own flavor. At a price you can afford....hint hint. But seriously folks, if their good people will pay,.... Business 101. I'm good for one. Did Jason Ricci just quote the new Harrison SS Model @100 per?
Last Edited by on Nov 20, 2010 3:18 PM
what i found most interesting in this thread is adam saying he only has 2 custom harps. i am surprised by that someone of his caliber uses stock harps. maybe this is common knowledge but i didnt know it. that is pretty cool. do you mind if i ask what you play?
RT, I don't think I've ever seen a picture of Adam with anything but a Marine Band in his hand. Just because he doesn't play 'customs' doesn't mean he doesn't tinker with his harps. He has a good video where he opens one up and shows how to gap it.
Last Edited by on Nov 19, 2010 10:16 AM
