Yesterday, I got my long-awaited, brand new, shiny Crossover. I expect that a lot of you are curious about it, so, here are a few thoughts.
The first thing that strikes you when taking it out of the box is the sheer quality of the thing; it really is a beautifully made instrument. With some harps, you feel like you're holding a mass produced item - which, I suppose, you are; you get the sense that it was made with as much perfunctory care and interest as a tea-lady has when making her 800th cup of tea that week. This isn't like that; it looks and feels more like a Mercedes than, say, a Proton.
The cover plates, at last, have that piece of hanging steel where the sound escapes from folded back completely. On my MB Deluxes that has been variable, even from top cover to bottom cover.
The fully sealed, laminated bamboo comb is as comfortable and easy on the lips as any traditional comb that I've played. I know a lot of people say that combs with recessed reed plates are easier to play, and, when compared to an 1896 MB, that may be true. But, for me at least, I find that sometimes my lips tend to stick to the ABS plastic type combs; too much red wine, not enough beer, too much coffee? Dunno. But this harp glides. Not like a Seydel 1847, but as well as any Hohner.
One other thing about the comb - and this is really petty - but I don't like the way that the brand name on the back of some harps is designed to wear off; that adds to the tackyness of it. With the Crossover, the word 'HOHNER' is indelibly etched onto the thing, a bit like with a Seydel Soloist - not Pro. It's a small thing, but it's a nice touch for those who don't like tacky stuff.
I begin to ramble, me thinks, so away from the cosmetics of the thing and over more to the important stuff.
The hype about the tone and volume of the instrument is true. It is a loud, punchy harp. I'm no great overblower, but I can get the 6OB effortlessly. Admittedly, mine is a C, which is easier to OB on than a lower key harp. Nevertheless, it's more or less comparable to my 1847 Silver in that regard.
One big improvement in this MB seems to be its cover plate design. The thing that bugged me the most about the MB before was the 1 draw reed rattle that you sometimes get on some of the lower keys. I can't tell for sure whether the problem has been addressed - especially on a C harp - but, as far as I can tell, just by using my eyes, Hohner seems to have altered the classic wedge shape ever so slightly so as to allow for that extra bit of clearance from the draw reeds.
If you want to hear the harp itself, there's a YouTube video with Joe Filisko and Howard Levy that's linked to from Hohner's US website, though, strangely, not their European website. It's easy enough to find from the home page.
A brief summary: do I like this harp? No, I love it. It's as damn near as close to perfection as you're gonna get for an OOTB harp. ---------- YouTube SlimHarpMick
I wonder, Suzuki, Hohner and Seydel have all come out with new top of the line harps in the last couple years. I wonder if the other companies (Tombo-Oskar, Hering, etc. are going to be releasing anything.)
The tuning is compromised, closer to ET than an 1896. I think Hohner's idea was to make it acceptable to both blusers and jazzers. It still sounds great.
nacoran,
I think you're probably right. Darwinism in action: evolve or die. ---------- YouTube SlimHarpMick
I wanted to try one. Especially after your review. Will you post a video? When you have a bunch of working harps what is the deciding factor on key? Something that you don't have too many keys of and use often I guess?
---------- ~Ryan Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
Yeah, sure, I'll do a video. Initially, I chose not to do one because of the existence of that one by Mssrs Filisko and Levy, but what the hell.
As for keys, when I settle on a harp, which I think I have, C, A, D and G, then Bb and F, then the others, i.e., the most common keys. I hope I understood your question there. ---------- YouTube SlimHarpMick
Last Edited by on Nov 07, 2009 4:33 PM
Sounds like I'll give one a try - anyone out there got a Manji too, to do a direct comparison?
@nacoran Hering have brought out three new diatonics recently. Rod Piazza and Madcat signature models and a strange looking beast that has a chrom style mouthpiece.
I know the comment wasn't addressed to me, but I thought that nacoran was talking about MB style harps. At least, I presumed as much.
I often wonder why Hering don't fully seal their 1923s and give them more stable covers. Even charging a few more quid, they could probably corner that market. Well, if they sorted out their iffy distribution, that is. ---------- YouTube SlimHarpMick
Last Edited by on Nov 07, 2009 5:08 PM
I like how in that demo video they almost make it sound like it won't need reed work & then yep, surely it'll still need all those hours of work, heh.
I think you answered my question. Issue being hey, I got all the keys I need and they all work but I want to try out something new.
After spending the last few weeks dealing with drilling a regular marine band for screws and sealing the comb etc, etc, etc, and still had to do reed work I just find it all tricky & this is where the crossover sounds like a good idea. Though I do have another handful of marine bands to finish lol.
---------- ~Ryan Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
I think it's cool to have other hobbies that aren't playing that harp that involve something with it but in my case it's just more things to make mistakes on, lol.
I get the connection thing too! That's part of why I'm still tongue blocking everything. It just seems closer and more fluid to me. But at the same time I think I'm finding out that those overblows aren't going to happen from that position. Maybe as I get used to them.
---------- ~Ryan Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
LongUserName- I just checked out the Hering site with Google Translate. That one with the chrom mouthpiece actually looks pretty slick. My chrom doesn't have a normal chrom mouthpiece. I wonder how they feel. I wish I had more money. I'd love to have at least one harp from each of the big companies.
GH, I'd never noticed the post numbers were actually numbered to the post number. I assumed it listed how many posts you'd made total. Congratulations on your horns.
I think the reed plates are identical to the MB DLX. I read a Harp-l post where Steve Baker said that all parts between the DLX and the CRSOVR are interchangeable. I think it's just the tuning that differs slightly.
I've almost got devil status. Do strange things happen when you get there? ---------- YouTube SlimHarpMick
@mickil: No, just like your next birthday won't make you older by a year but a single measly day. However, check out that new uber cool signature... hehe. I rest my case.
