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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Suzuki harps at about half price.
Suzuki harps at about half price.
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wheezer
10 posts
Jul 06, 2008
4:11 AM
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This post is for U.K. harpists who like the Suzuki harps or would like to try them. If you don't like Suzuki don't bother to read any further.
In the quest to avoid the over inflated prices of harmonicas here in the U.K I am always searching for a bargain. I found on Ebay a seller in the U.S. offering the Suzuki Promaster MR350
Valved at an opening bid of $36. That is the price I bought it for (18.16 GBP). Before buying I asked the seller the postage price which was $8 (4GBP) so the price inc. p.p. was appx. 22.50 GBP. The best price in the U.K. I found was about 37 GBP.
My only concern was import duty but the harp arrived nine days later with nothing more to pay.
Now maybe I'm tight or maybe I'm poor (sounds like a good line for a song?) but 15 quid is no mean saving.
What does it play like? The only other Suzuki I have is an A Bluesmaster which I thought had a rather brittle sound (and 3 draw blew out after a couple of gigs). The MR350V has a much warmer tone, bends very easily and, having a metal comb, has a pleasant hefty feel to it. Also it is extremely
airtight. Now all I have to see is how durable it will be.
The same seller, bluzerd (964), was offering the Overdrive
for the same price as the MR350V and the Bluesmaster for
7.54 GBP (I paid 23.00 GBP for my Bluesmaster in the U.K.)
Of course, all the harps are brand new.
I hope this is of help to someone out there.
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Aussiesucker
2 posts
Jul 06, 2008
3:11 PM
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G'day Wheezer, I buy Suzuki Harps from the US at ca half the price in Australia. I pay $16 for Harpmaster, $18 for Bluesmasters and $32 for Promasters. In Australia I have not seen Harpmasters but Bluesmasters cost $40 & Promasters $70. Also it is difficult to find anyone who stocks them here. I place an order on Tuesday over the net (Monday in the US) and I receive them by Thursday by DHL for a shipping cost of only $12.95 for up to 6 harps. I am given a DHL tracking no by email as soon as it is shipped & I can track it all the way up to delivery. The Aussie dollar is now almost par with the US Dollar. I buy from Doc at Harp Depot and you will read a lot of posts re poor service however I have not experienced any. In fact I have experienced exactly the opposite. With one order I got charged Ohio sales tax (not much) and I emailed this mistake and the amount was deducted from my next order. For another I needed some technical data prior to placing an order and Doc said he was meeting up with a Suzuki rep and he would check and advise. I had an answer in a week. I received in another order a Suzuki Chromatix which I had issues with and Doc gave me a good contact at Suzuki who in turn put me in contact with Brendan Power who gave me some excellent info on exactly how to solve the problem. I know that there are problems with some items like Bushmans which are out of stock & Doc it seems does not respond to all emails. I don't own any Bushmans and have never ordered any so cannot really comment. I get on the phone to Doc when I need to know about anything and I find it works.
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johntrem
14 posts
Jul 06, 2008
3:56 PM
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Wheezer,
I live the USA(Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio)and in the past few weeks I've purchased 3 Suzuki Bluesmasters,a Bb, an A and a G, from Bluzerd and am very happy with them and impressed that I got them for $14.95 each with $5 shipping. I'd been interested in Suzuki Bluesmasters and wanted to try one. Bluzerd's ebay store offered the lowest prices. Of course, now I've blown the low price deal by posting this. I was surprised that I was the only bidder on the harps that I got, while some other Suzuki sellers had multiple bidders. Also, I received the harps in less than a week. I got the Bb first and was so happy with it, I went for the others.
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wheezer
14 posts
Jul 10, 2008
4:29 AM
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Hi Johmtrem, That guys prices are really good. If he still has them try the valved MR 350V. I have a Bluesmaster and I think the promaster is way out in front. (I paid the equivalent of
$46 for my bluesmaster so now you know why I like the guy on Ebay so much)
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johntrem
15 posts
Jul 10, 2008
7:08 AM
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Wheezer,
As I've posted here in the past, I recently got back into playing harp after a long layoff (years).I had a number of Hohner Blues Harps, a Marine Band, a couple of Hot Metals and a Hohner Big River. The Marine Band was purchased in 1973 for a standard retail price of $3 and the Blues Harps, also in the 1970's, at a standard retail of $5. I picked up the Hot Metals for $5 each and the Big River for $6 at a local independent music store (now defunct)in the last ten years or so. When I decided to pick up some new harps the current prices were a bit hard to swallow. I was aware, of course, that they had risen over the years but according to some older catalogs lying about my house and some older websites (going back to 2004), prices have just about doubled in the past four years. Hohner Blues Harps at a price of $32 and Marine Bands at $27-$29. Now I don't expect to pay 30 some year old prices, but I do like to get a good deal(though I did bite for a Marine Band), so when I ran across Bluzerd's ebay store it was a pleasant surprise. The Promaster looks very tempting, though it will probably have to wait awhile as the dear wife made mention that 3 new harps in less than 2 weeks was enough for now (yes, dear). Christmas is about 6 months away. Plenty of time to drop hints.
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