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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
question about custom harp makers
question about custom harp makers
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bandini
18 posts
May 26, 2024
7:50 PM
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Hey all - Thought I'd bounce this off the collective wisdom of the group here. I'm basically looking for a regular old out of the box marine band tuned to 7-limit Just Intonation.
It would seem that - aside from doing the tuning myself - my options would be to find someone online who can do the tuning. The well-known Hohner affiliated guys all seem to offer fairly extensive customization (new combs, screws, etc) and I really don't want any of that - I just want Just Intonation on a stock marine band.
How would y'all go about this if you were me? Is there any online shop that sells harps and also offers tuning? I haven't found one so far.
Thanks much for any help -
Chris
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Gnarly
Alternatetuning
3152 posts
May 27, 2024
5:21 PM
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Boy, it’s just (sorry) not that hard to tune to Just.
Pmail me, I can help.
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barbequebob
3718 posts
May 28, 2024
8:19 AM
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The very last year that Hohner harps came out of the box in 7 limit just intonation was back in 1985. If you don't want the full customization and just the retuning, contact some customizers and ask them about it and of course, just how much they charge. I've done this tuning myself since that late 1970's and my ears have gotten to the point that it's trained so perfectly as to what to listen for that I haven't needed at tuner to do for decades.
The last out of the box harmonicas that were tuned to 7 limit just intonation was the just tuned version of the Suzuki Fabulous, which even for an out of the box harp, is far from cheap, and the only other one is a Hering 1923 Vintage Harp, which hasn't been sold in the USA for quite sometime and Hering was once owned by Hohner during the late 60's until about 1980.
You could easily do that yourself but if you want to learn how to do this, get some older harps you don't use anymore or some real cheapo stuff just to practice on. In the beginning, you will need at tuner, plus know the tuning scheme, and when you tune them, you have to play them VERY SOFTLY for the tuning to be 100% accurate and you're going to be listening to not only the individual notes and octaves, but also how the note sounds with the other two notes in the chord and with 7LJI, once the wavering/beating completely stops, then you're home free and the harp is truly in tune with itself.
The other suggestion is get a Seydel 1847, which has a compromise tuning that's very close to 19 limit just intonation and then the only two notes that have to be retuned are the 5 and 9 draw, and you'll tune those two down about roughly 25 cents flat and then do what I mentioned in the previous paragraph to make sure you're there.
The only way you're going to be getting a stock Marine Band tuned to 7 limit just intonation is if you go on the vintage market on sites like eBay and look for harps made prior to 1985, and even more so, the pre-WWI Marine Bands.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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bandini
19 posts
May 29, 2024
7:49 AM
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Yeah, it's unfortunate that I can't hang with Seydel harps. They're made wonderfully and can be ordered in Just tuning, which makes them the only "out of the box" harp in Just tuning out there.
Seydels don't work for me for a number of reasons, but man, I wish there was a Hohner ordering system based on the Seydel system, where you can literally configure the harp you want, with the tuning you want, the comb, and even the base frequency.
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barbequebob
3719 posts
May 29, 2024
9:25 AM
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You actually can special order them through their US site but honestly, you're going to be paying almost as much for a custom instrument, meaning that if the list price of a Marine Band is already close to $70, the custom retuning to 7LJI is going to be another $50-90 in addition. If you're having a problem playing a Seydel, it's likely that you haven't taken time to get used to the hole spacing and the most likely culprit is that you have a tendency to have a very rigidly held embouchure (and that's nearly always the case with many self taught pucker players as a general rule), which makes learning how to make often very subtle changes and adaptability damned close to impossible.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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harpwrench
1127 posts
May 29, 2024
11:35 AM
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90% of the custom harps I sell are sealed wood comb marine bands. There's a lot more going on inside my customs than the comb and how it's fastened together. But screws are better for me than nails because it saves a lot of time when one needs to take it apart and put it back together. Which I do multiple times setting it up and tuning it, and sooner or later you'll want to either fix it or clean the reeds.
FYI my wait list is only about 6 weeks right now, if anyone is thinking about it.
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www.spiersharmonicas.com
High Performance Harmonicas
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bandini
26 posts
Jul 13, 2024
9:32 AM
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An update to this: I am now chuckling a bit at my previous posts in this thread.:)
I honestly had no idea what a different level custom harps were at from the out of the box version. I got my first harp from Mr. Spiers yesterday and literally could not stop playing it - it's not just a little bit better... it's kind of a revelation.
For one thing I've realized that a lot of my issues with intonation and bending had much more to do with the instruments I've been playing than I realized. I've had this perhaps stupid notion that if my chops were properly in shape I could just pick up any harp and play it decent.
However, I've really struggled with pitch/intonation stuff with out of the box Marine Bands and Joe's harp is so beautifully in tune and the bends are so effortless that there is simply no more struggle. The weird pitchiness that I frequently hear in even well-known players who play say, the crossover - or something else with a highly compromised tuning scheme... gone. Just the smooth, pleasing sound I associate with classic harp sounds.
And yikes, what a joy to Tongue Block on! I'm pretty much at 100% TB lately, and once again: it would seem the occasional difficulty I was having really grabbing ahold of bent notes was also more due to the instrument than I realized. No more problem there either.
Now it's getting fun...
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barbequebob
3724 posts
Jul 15, 2024
8:45 AM
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Unless you specify something otherwise, all of the Joe Spiers custom harps come standard tuned to 19 limit just intonation. One of the first things you will always notice is that you need very little to almost no air at all to play a good quality custom harp and Joe's among the very best in the business and compliments is something I never give out lightly. The more you play them, with less breath, your overall playing technique will improve to the point that you can almost any harp, custom or otherwise sound better.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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