I've been living on You Tube recently and come across several harp vids using a Beta Harp in D by Ben Bouman. My take on this is that its a custom key of D harp by a guy named Ben Bouman. Am I correct? What's the difference between this harp and a standard out of the box key of D Honer? Am I missing something here?
To give you all the information, the Seydel 1847 has been designed mainly by by Ben Bouman. The 1847 are harmonicas made with staineless steel reeds and they're great harmonicas right out of the box. BUT (always a catch) as any harmonicas, if you want to play them for overbends (overblows and overdraws) they have to be set up for that. Ben is the only customizer I know (besides Rupert Oysler) who is able to work on staineless steel reeds, these reeds are very difficult to work on, since this "metal" is not like the copper that is more flexible. Ben is spending 2 to 3 hours on each reed plate, and the result is really worth the money you'll spend on it.
I'll not argue about the difference between Seydel and Hohner, the only thing I know is that the Seydel have a gorgeous sound. This is the first page of the Seydel catalogue, you'll see James Cotton a legend and some other people (wink)
You can find all the informations needed here: http://www.beta-harps.com
And I'm joining you my last video where I play a D Beta-harp (I don't want any reactions from C.Michalek this message is not for him)
---------- Harmonica is like Nutella, you start with one spoon, then you eat the all thing
Last Edited by on Apr 25, 2009 11:52 PM
Thank you for the info and your vid. It was your You Tube vids that I've been watching and they have inspired me to work more on my improvising as well as reaching out of the blues and into the jazz domain that I love for more musical ideas. I am really disappointed on the negative commentaries that have been posted recently. I can only think that the posters may be jealous of your playing and intruding on what they consider as their turf. Shame on them as they are ruining what started out as a friendly community based forum. We all lose when we get wrapped up in negativity.
You have a very appreciative audience. Keep the posting coming.
cbone- I couldn't help but notice that of your 3 posts one falsely identifies someone as a lesbian which set off a firestorm. Your next you say "the animosity is too much and im not sure if i will be back on this forum." and now you Attack another member.
quote cbone "as u r because you are female (and i am not sure about this...)"
Yes of course I'm a man, you're right LOL..Wanna fight? I'm your "man"
Think about it: what you're doing cbone is exactly the same way that white people used to treat black people, did I say anything bad on anybody here? Did I treat any people the you're doing? I'm sure you've the answer
Yes I advertize myself. You're american right? The freedom of expressing yourself is one of the backbone of the USA constitution and any advance democracy, the only person who is entitled to judge here is Adam because it 's HIS forum.
by the way cbone, I've answered very completely to Tweed, that was asking a question about the Beta harps...In this way I was sharing my knowledge...
Thanks for your support with this hater Scstrickland, that's sweet ---------- Harmonica is like Nutella, you start with one spoon, then you eat the all thing
Last Edited by on Apr 26, 2009 12:37 AM
Cbone, your subjectivity is not useful. Everyone here has a personal style which may not be to everyone's taste. If you don't like someone, you do have the option of saying nothing and ignoring that person, or extracting what's useful from them and ignoring what isn't, as I could have done with you, except that your contributions are negative; Christelle's aren't.
Last Edited by on Apr 26, 2009 1:45 AM
Seydel are doing a lot of marketing at the moment and they have a sophisticated, developed, marketing department. They came to last years UK harmonica festival and were giving special prices on their harps. 'The Big Six', their nifty little six holer went down very well. I myself have a super low F, its a bit of a novelty and its quiet, but the 1 hole blow sounds like an aircraft carrier fog horn!
@ c bone You have made 4 posts on this forum, yet you are clearly looking for particular people's posts in order to make your personal, unpleasant, contribution.
Why don't you openly share some details about yourself and your harmonica experience on this forum? We'd luv to know ya..
@tweed: I think "By Ben Bouman" would mean a customized seydel 1847 By Bouman (it's the only kind he customizes) you can see more info on his website: http://www.beta-harps.com/
so the difference between that and an "out of the box hohner" is - It's customized (do a forum search for the difference between custom/out of the box) - It's a Seydel 1847
cbone-talker, in all fairness everyone has the right to post their own videos on this forum as long as it is harmonica related.
If Buddha can talk about the Buddha harps here, Christelle has every right to talk about Ben's harps.
Tweed did ask and Christelle did the right thing by answering since Beta Harps are really her alley.
Your last post about Rachelle being a lesbian has killed all credibility you had. And going as far as this goes: "as u r because you are female (and i am not sure about this...)"
That may be your opinion and you have every right to have it and keep it to yourself but why did you have to say that to her? That's not helping AT ALL. Mentioning another player is a lesbian is also messed up. I hope you get banned because you've pushed your boundaries further than ANYONE ELSE on this forum.
You've only had 3 post counts and every single one of them has been totally way out of line and causing trouble.
Just to set the record I have never said that you can't play blues. I only said you were floating over the chord progression on the harpfriends video. Any comment I make, is about the video/performance, NOT A BLANKET STATEMENT ABOUT THE PLAYER. Ok?
This new video...
I have watched almost all your videos and I have to say this one is your BEST so far. Your tenacity at improving and proving what you're worth is showing. The change in your playing since the last video is something notable and you DESERVE credit for that.
This is some serious professional level playing here. Real blues. You were truly in the pocket this time making sure you hang on tightly onto all the chord changes. I have really never seen you THIS focused before and FLOWING blues with a feeling.
You put more dynamics and variety in your lines this time. It is VERY interesting.
You're absolutely right. Interestingly, I noticed the same thing about c-bonetalker.
That's why I've deleted c-bone and his (or her) three posts.
Look, folks: membership on this forum is a privilege, not a right. When somebody is approved and their first three posts contributed nothing except negativity and personal attacks, I consider them to have violated the board creed.
Civility is a virtue. Please try to learn how to live with one another.
Ben and Rupert are not the only ones who can work on stainless reeds. There are obvious reasons why they would choose to do so. Likewise, there are less than obvious technical reasons for some highly competent builders choosing not to use them- and ability has nothing to do with it.
We're fortunate to have access to so many different flavors of nice harps from different manufacturers and customizers. They each have technical differences that give them unique personalities. And different people often find satisfaction in their favorite models for different reasons.
I work on seydels too and in fact do them for guys like Rupert and PT Gazell. They are not easy to work on which is why there are so few people that do it.
I think the hohners are the the best harps out there. Of all the harp makes and models I build they consistently turn out to be the best.
You passed along excellent information that the original poster asked of the membership here. That is valuable and the purpose of this forum. Keep offering help. Anyway--
