Rick Davis
38 posts
Dec 26, 2009
3:30 PM
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My band has a gig tonight at a big jazz club in Denver. My harp kit will include more "good" harps than I usually carry.
I'm a Special 20 kinda guy, with a few regular Marine bands and the odd Lee Oskar harp. Tonight I'm packin' two Seydel 1847 Silvers, three MB Deluxe harps, an MB Crossover, and two custom Special 20s built by local harp master Victor Creazzi. The rest are regular SP20s.
For years I've played out-of-the-box mid-priced Hohners, but now I think I'm ready to move up a bit.
What harps do you gig with? Do you play standard harps, such as the stock SP20, or better harps such as the Seydel 1847 or Hohner MB Deluxe, or do you play customized harps?
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-Rick Davis
Blues Harp Amps Blog
Roadhouse Joe Blues Band
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nacoran
603 posts
Dec 26, 2009
4:48 PM
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I change which harps I use a lot. If one A is playing better than another I swap out. I don't have any customs. I have some nice sounding Blues Harps that I don't practice with much. They are rough on my lips but if I'm going up in front of people they sound good. I do run through my harps and make sure nothing is jammed. It depends on the set list too. I think a harp with an opened back sounds bluesier, but a have at least one song I play in 1st position that I use a closed back harp on. I have two 7 harp cases. I fill them up with as many keys as I have (still no B or Db) and then just take any favorites I have left to fill the rest of it, like my LLF.
Currently my favorite harps are my G Lee Oskar, a Frankenstein G with closed backs made out of a couple of really really cheap harps, a C Lee Oskar and a Pocket Pal in C that I bought to practice reed work on that actually happened to play OK.
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Shredder
79 posts
Dec 26, 2009
5:12 PM
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Rick , I gig with G/M's mostly. I do have several S/P20's that I use for certain songs that require chords. I mostly play single notes/ lead breaks. The G/M's don't sound as good blowing chords in my opinion.I feel the G/M's are very tight OOTB and only require gapping for my style of playing. The SP 20's are tight also with gapping being the only mod. I need.I have opened up the backs of the G/M's on a few keys and like the sound.
I got 2 new S/P 20's last week for back ups in A & D. The A would over blow every note easly right out of the box. The D only needed the 10 hole adjusted to over blow, need less to say I was very happy. I think maybe the Q/C dept. has stepped up it's act. The last few G/M's and 20's have been very good OOTB.
Mike
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pharpo
36 posts
Dec 26, 2009
8:00 PM
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Rick I have MB's , SP20's , BH's , and Lee O's...in my case. All have been bought customized (2) or I customized them myself. Reeds / plates /combs. I round off all the edges on the BH's / MB's so they don't feel like rail road tracks.
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Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. - Charlie Parker
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hvyj
38 posts
Dec 27, 2009
10:30 AM
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I have a set of 13 Suzuki Hammonds I use for performance and 10 Suzuki Firebreaths I carry as spares when gigging. The Hammonds are the best OOB harps I've ever played. No mods except for a little gapping here and there. I strongly prefer ET since I play in multiple positions. Non ET harps have so many flat notes they sound out of tune if played in positions other than 1st, 2d or 3rd.
I'm currently putting together a set of 10 custom Buddha harps made w/ GM covers and reed plates. I'm not wild about OOB Hohners, but I do like the ergnomics of GM covers and Chris does a great job building these harps. His harps have terrific compression and are capable of of very accurate bends. And he will set them up and tune them to whatever specs you want.
Last Edited by on Dec 27, 2009 10:31 AM
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Kingley
577 posts
Dec 27, 2009
10:37 AM
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I play Marine Bands which I customise myself.
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congaron
365 posts
Dec 28, 2009
12:00 PM
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Marine bands, blues harps, special 20's and harpmasters...occasionally a promaster in low f or Eb.
If my lips are raw from practice, I will gig with plastic combs. If not, I tend towards the marine bands. My favorite c harp is a blues harp with big river covers..very marine band sounding and plays great.
Nothing custom, but all have been tweaked a little here and there..open backs, reeds gapped. I have two special 20's i got for Christmas that are bone stock so far...probably will leave them that way for the tonal variety of the closed back...they don't need any reed work yet.
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