I hate 'em. I ordered two - in A and D - and they both are terrible: Leaky, not loud at all, very hard to bend, and dead tone. It is impossible to get the reeds to snap or pop. They are so leaky playing them is like breathing into a sack: I get so lightheaded I think I'll hyperventilate and faint on stage. I kept these things around in my kit for several months but found myself always chosing other harps, relegating these guys to permanent back-up status.Is there some secret way to set up these things to play decently? It seems absurd that you'd have to send them to a customizer just to get them to play as well as an out-of-the-box Special 20. (They cost about the same.)
I'd like to hear from any players who actually like these harps.
UPDATE:
This post got me thinking about my list of favoite harps. I'm a creature of habit and haven't tried all the harps our there, but here are my general preferences.
1- Hohner Marine Band Deluxe
2- Seydel 1847 Silver
3- Hohner Special 20
4- Hohner Golden Melody
5- Hohner Marine Band
6- Tombo Lee Oskar
7- Hohner MS harps (Pro Harp, Blues Harp, Big River, etc)
... (many others)
last- Herring 1923 Vintage
I've ordered a Hohner Crossover harp, but Musicians Friend has it on backorder.
12 comments:
I've owned some of those in the past. I liked them quite a bit. I found them to be pretty airtight and very easy to bend. I would have bought more, but they aren't easy to find.
Joe, maybe mine were defective... But both?
Oh, I just played them straight out of the box. No adjustments necessary.
I have a number of them and really like the tone and playability. Just intonated as well. That being said, Herings in general seem to have a terrible taste which gradually goes away. This includes their chromatics with a plastic comb. One hopes that their brazilian factory isn't loaded with toxic chemicals. I also had one of them (D vintage harp) blow a reed within the first few days and the replacement reed plates are often difficult to get. As a low cost alternative, particularly the chromatics, I have been very pleased with them. Hering just jacked their prices by 50%, so now not so much. Thank the Fed's weak dollar policy apparently.
Yo, Rick, the problem is that the factory arcs the reeds too much on their diatonics and if anything it's worse on 1923s. They're leaky because the gaps are too high. But if you lower the gaps by shifting the whole reed down, the too leaky/too tight dividing point is hard to find due to the excessive arc. You have to take out some of the upward curl near the reed tip so that the end closes flatter. Straightening the end also automatically reduces the gap to a more normal level. That's the secret trick and the Hering Blues models always needed it too. One other trick is to check the tightness of reedplate and coverplate screws periodically.
Stock, those 1923s can be good harps for blues purists who tongueblock and play really hard, which a lot of Marine Band diehards do. The JI tuning is usually very accurate. Would rather fix other brands/models' shortcomings though, so didn't buy a bunch of 1923s. Other things wrong with the Hering reeds, too.
It may seem like Brad Harrison is obsessing about reedmaking, but clearly he's trying to get past the way that big companies compromise their reedmaking/setup and build in things like bad arcing practices or poor alloy choices. Maybe Suzuki is trying, maybe that Bends company in SA, but I haven't seen their latest stuff up close. Hohner is really screwing up right now, made not quite right choices. Oskar could kick lots of tail if they would make their reedplates a little thicker, there's another bad choice for you, the list goes on & on. Way too many almost-right harps out there.
BTW They sell 'em at Musician's Friend as well as lots of other harps and paraphenalia. Large selection. As cheap as anywhere.
Hi Rick, I' with you to favorite the Marine Band Deluxe, BUT I have always to loose some plates a little bit, to avoid jam at quick and hard playin'.
The Hering 1923 has 5 screws in the reed plate vs the Marine Deluxe with only 3, Hering has thicker reed plates which = better quality. My set of Herings' are plenty loud blows the Special 20s away. Harmonica Direct has been selling replacement reed plates for the Hering 1923 for years and still has them for sale as we speak. What I don't like about the 1923s is the first 4 holes sound tinny and the middle and upper register sound great. What I do to increase compression and warm the whole harp up was to put Special 20 covers on them. You have to line the cover up then mark your screw hole very little and drill just a hair to make them fit perfectly but man what a sound.
The Hohner Marine Band Deluxe has 7 screws attaching the reed plates to the comb, not 3.
Product review states that the Marine deluxe has 3 reed plate screws and 4 cover plate screws, take the cover plates off you then only have 3 screws holding the reed plate on.
When do you ever play a harp with the cover plates off? The 4 cover plate bolts on the MBD pass through the harp and hold the reed plates firmly to the comb. The MBD is exceptinally airtight and lively.
I've enjoyed a full set of original '23's from old Miami stock for I don't know how many years. I enjoy the tuning and tone, and have never had a problem w/ any of them. Haven't done any maintenance on them other than keeping them clean & keeping all the screws tightened. I've read that others have had issues, but, I haven't. -EZ
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