groyster1
2055 posts
Oct 15, 2012
6:23 PM
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I was at a harmonica festival in tiny fairview tennessee on sept 29 where there was world class talent....I met jelly roll johnson who is a hohner endorser who has always played marine bands....sat at the same picnic table @HCH 2012 with phil wiggins who noticed my marine bands in the old boxes and told me the same...wallace coleman grew up in my hometown of oak ridge,tennessee and again,has only played marinebands....I am not trying to justify that everyone switch to mb1896 but they apparently still have a very strong following and a past that there is no denying...
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rbeetsme
877 posts
Oct 15, 2012
7:06 PM
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A lot of folks play the MB. Keep in mind that many, if not most, of the old legends played MBs. There wasn't much choice back then, as a result, I think the tone of the MB s etched into history. Today there is a much greater choice of terrific harmonicas. Still, the top players seem to still prefer the tone of the MB. Yeah, I play them too.
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arzajac
868 posts
Oct 16, 2012
3:11 AM
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After his show this summer, I got to speak with Curtis Salgado. Like a dweeb, I asked him what kind of harp he plays as he signed the copy of his CD I had just bought. He said "I'll play anything anyone gives me so long as it's in tune." and I thought what a great attitude!
The next day, I read the fine print on the CD jacket and it says "Curtis Salgado plays Hohner Harmonicas customized by Joe Filisko"
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HarpNinja
2771 posts
Oct 16, 2012
5:40 AM
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@arzajac
Great story!
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Mike
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Littoral
623 posts
Oct 16, 2012
5:40 AM
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MB's are great but crappy out of the box. Pro's have better harps either because they're upgraded or better harps. I noticed, 2 months ago, that Dennis Gruenling had mostly Crossovers so I asked him and he said, leaning in as if it was a secret, that most of them were ootb. It makes sense, he's using very good Marine Bands.
Last Edited by on Oct 16, 2012 5:41 AM
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jim
1325 posts
Oct 16, 2012
6:06 AM
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It all comes down to how precise you want it to be
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HarpNinja
2774 posts
Oct 16, 2012
7:34 AM
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@Littoral
I only find that odd in that the tuning really isn't optimal for his style. I will concede, though, that when in the trenches, you realize that most people don't care and can't hear differences between things like intonation or side vents, lol.
The better you are with your technique, the easier it is to make a less than optimal harmonica sound great. The truth is, the current MB is a great OOTB harp. If it weren't so sharp on the reedplates, I could play them pretty much bone stock.
Granted, I much prefer customized for overbends, but nothing beats a good playing OOTB MB for wailing away on the blues.
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Mike
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Adam Hamil
53 posts
Oct 16, 2012
7:31 AM
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Of all the artists that I ship harps to, They are about 60% Marine Bands, 30% Special 20s, and 10% everything else.
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C. Adam Hamil
HOHNER CERTIFIED Free Reed Instrument Technician
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The Iceman
490 posts
Oct 16, 2012
8:16 AM
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Similar to what Jim says above, I've found 2 groups of pros.
1. Plays any harmonica or otb harmonica and, through force of will, commands it to do what is needed (James Cotton, Mark Hummel, etc).
2. Insists on subtle response and well set action to achieve what is needed from the harmonica (me, for instance).
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The Iceman
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Frank
1297 posts
Oct 16, 2012
8:31 AM
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Is it a stretch to imagine that when Curtis stated "I'll play anything anyone gives me so long as it's in tune." He was hoping that Andrew was a " harp customizer" (which he is) and was going to give him a harp for free?
Last Edited by on Oct 16, 2012 8:34 AM
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HarpNinja
2777 posts
Oct 16, 2012
8:49 AM
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I bet it was just the macho thing to say...like we did the recording all in one take, or I don't use effects, etc.
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Mike
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waltertore
2585 posts
Oct 16, 2012
9:08 AM
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I Spent my pro playing days when all there was were hohners. THe MB was the king and the cheapest of the lot of high end 10 hole harps. We threw them out when they went bad (after we soaked them to death as a final resurection). I still prefer MB's. They just sound the best to my ears. I have tried many of the newer brands and most play better otb but don't sound as good. Lee Oskar was the first guy to give his endorsees free harps. Hohner never gave out one for free (I was an endorsee for 15 years) and once I asked Junior Wells why he had switched to LO's and he replied- hohner never gave me a harp and Lee gives me all I want. Playing in a band context, and amplified, I would use the cheapest things I could find that worked ok. For off the mic acoustic harp, I use the best I can get. Amplified harp covers up so many nuances that you can away with cheapos and still sound ok. Money is forever an issue with a blues level pro and many will play cheap and or stock harps live because they can't afford custom set up ones for everyday gigs. Plus most PA systems sound bad onstage and you end up wasting harps on bad sound. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
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Last Edited by on Oct 16, 2012 9:08 AM
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1847
287 posts
Oct 16, 2012
10:06 AM
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kim wilson uses filisco marine bands
i saw rod piazza he had some sort of hering
looked like it was goldplated with a corian comb
i was surprised
he always used stock marine bands
before switching to stock herings
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1847
288 posts
Oct 16, 2012
10:11 AM
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dale spaulding is playing with canned heat
he likes the crossover
i just made $125.00 dollars playing
does that make me pro?
i prefer anything with stainless steel reeds
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HawkeyeKane
1249 posts
Oct 16, 2012
10:13 AM
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A local harp player here who's a friend of mine once told me a story....how true it is, I don't know.
Charlie Musselwhite played a show here in town several years ago, and afterward sat down and talked with my friend. This was during the time that Charlie was endorsing Lee Oskars. They got to talking about choice of harp, and Charlie hands him a harp and tells him to take a look at it. My friend replied that he'd tried Lee Oskars, but still preferred his SP20's. Charlie then told him to take a closer look at the harp. It was then that my friend realized that Charlie had mounted LO coverplates to a SP20.
Again....don't know if it's true, but I still chuckle at the thought of it.
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Hawkeye Kane
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Frank
1299 posts
Oct 16, 2012
10:24 AM
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Hate to break it to you 1847 but your still an amateur :) your one dollar short of professional status, sorry :(
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waltertore
2586 posts
Oct 16, 2012
12:22 PM
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Hawkeyekane: I would bet that story is true. When I was hanging with Charlie in the early 80's he used SP20's. I also remember often times they had issues. Most people here have no clue to what it was like to play for a living. Harps were a constant stress of "when will it go out so bad I got to chuck it?". Most players here have another source of income and can buy stuff without it impacting whether they eat or not, and if they can't afford it, they still have another source of income to pay the bills. I remember touring around the country and on off days going by peoples homes that were a wealth of super top end gear. They had the stuff we dreamed of. Our amps, guitar, harps, were all in bad shape most of the time and here these guys sat with the top of everything an never gigged!
I wonder if the big names today get their customs for free as endorsees? That would make playing them live worth it. If they have to pay the going rate for them I wonder how they can afford that? Pay has gone down, number of gigs has gone down, since I was active on the scene. Guitar players got free guitars, amps, drummers free drums, sticks, all the time when I was full time playing. I never met a harp player that got free harps till Lee Oskar starting giving them away to high profile players. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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HarpNinja
2779 posts
Oct 16, 2012
12:35 PM
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I've only every given one away for free and it was because I felt I owed it to the player for a non-harp related mixup, lol.
***Edited for spelling.
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Mike
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Last Edited by on Oct 16, 2012 12:36 PM
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MP
2509 posts
Oct 16, 2012
1:39 PM
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"dale spaulding is playing with canned heat.
he likes the crossover."
i know Dale. i work on his bother Larry Spaldings harps. (No U in Spalding.)
Larry is a great player in his own right.
anyway, Dale told Larry to try Crossovers so Larry
asked me if he should buy some. I told Larry one thing, "YES!"
i have two Crossovers. One is totally stock and a gig harp. The other got old...finally, so i souped it up a bit.
PS. last i looked Dale was playing mostly Filisko MB 1896s. It is really saying something for him to endorse
the stock Crossover.
Larry plays Filisko and Sleighs and most anything that's good. He likes the Crossover.
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MP
affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info-
repair videos on YouTube.
you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
Last Edited by on Oct 16, 2012 1:54 PM
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tmf714
1310 posts
Oct 16, 2012
2:30 PM
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"I noticed, 2 months ago, that Dennis Gruenling had mostly Crossovers so I asked him and he said, leaning in as if it was a secret, that most of them were ootb. It makes sense, he's using very good Marine Bands."
Dennis also uses THUNDERBIRD low key harps,which he played a role in the R&D of -he also has plenty of Filisko harps too-low and standard tuned. Dennis also gaps and tunes his own harps.
Last Edited by on Oct 16, 2012 2:31 PM
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1847
290 posts
Oct 16, 2012
2:33 PM
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one day i was flipping channels
and dale's mom was on tv
she could jam on the coronet!
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bonedog569
663 posts
Oct 16, 2012
4:06 PM
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I'm a 'semi-pro' that means I get paid now and again - but spend way more than I make on harmonicas ;}
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Last Edited by on Oct 16, 2012 4:06 PM
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A440
36 posts
Oct 17, 2012
1:23 AM
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Most pros play customized MBs which are very different from the OOTB variety. It may look like a MB1896, but it's another animal altogether.
I have tried a few recent MBs OOTB - nice tone... but with leaks, rattles and sticky reeds. Open the nails a few times and it gets leakier. For the same price you are better off with a Special 20. Spend more money, and you can get MB Deluxe or Crossover, both are excellent OOTB or with minor gap adjustments.
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1847
291 posts
Oct 17, 2012
9:04 AM
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so this guy comes in to my work
he tells me he and his wife frequent a restaurant
they have a band play there every week
they have a very good harp player in the band
says he cant remember his name
he goes to call his wife to ask her
i blurt out
"dale spalding"
he says thats it you know him?
i explain i have never met him
i have seen his name in the monthly blues magazine
southland blues
always meant to go just never did
this was on a friday
so on sunday i am heading to the house of blues with my neighbor to see the red devils with lester butler
he asks do you mind if we stop and pick up his friend "dale".... dale spalding i ask?
yeah you know him?
next thing i know we are sitting in his living room
small world out there.
but wait it gets better
i take my sister to see my "friend" dale
we run into to my uncle
who i haven't seen in like 25 years
small small world
Last Edited by on Oct 17, 2012 9:04 AM
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MP
2511 posts
Oct 17, 2012
12:01 PM
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1847,
it is a small world. i have one of Dales CDs
around here somewhere. Cover photo has beautiful Gibson amp on the cover..might be Les Paul model.
Atop the amp is a wood harp mic from the late Fritz Hasenpusch. Fritz passed last month. Larry Spalding called to tell me about it.
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MP
affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info-
repair videos on YouTube.
you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
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garry
283 posts
Oct 17, 2012
4:22 PM
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a friend of mine who is an excellent harp player recently discovered the crossovers and ditched all his customs. he says the crossovers are the best harps he's ever played.
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pharpo
708 posts
Oct 17, 2012
6:36 PM
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I believe that Charlie M. now plays Seydels as does Jason Ricci
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Procrastinator Emeritus
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kudzurunner
3590 posts
Oct 17, 2012
7:08 PM
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I like the Crossovers, but I can't say that I love them. They are very bright. They produce a tone that is at the treble end of the Marine Band spectrum. It's still recognizably a MB sound, but it's bright. They're very fast, very responsive, and I would encourage every die-hard MB fan to buy at least one. I've got an A, a D, and an F. The D certainly makes "Thunky Fing," with its fast long runs and OB's, dependably easy. It lets me execute all my fast 1/16th note runs in "Crossroads Blues." In some ways it makes things too easy for the way that I play. My sound depends partly on the fact that I like to bear down pretty hard on my notes and I like the sound they give off when you do that. This should hardly be surprising. Great old tube amps, especially the bigger ones, produce a wide range of sounds depending on how hard you bear down on your notes. Their bark SHOULD be worse than their not-quite-a-bark.
I learned to ski on 205 Fisher Alu steel skis that somebody gave me. They were long and heavy. You had to develop some real knowledge and some real strength in order to work them effectively, but that was good strength to have.
I'm not romanticizing "difficult" harps. Trust me on that. I'm a Hohner endorser and lifelong MB user, but--at least until recently--I sometimes ended up with an almost unplayable dud. Dry as dust. The Crossovers end all that heartache. But I would still take a great OTB Marine Band over almost any other harp. I'm not just saying that. That is based on 38 years of experience. In the last five years, I've tried a wide range of custom harps. They all have their virtues. Most of them have particular applications that they're great for. But, but, but.
A thing of beauty is a joy forever. And a good cigar is a smoke.
Last Edited by on Oct 17, 2012 7:09 PM
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groyster1
2056 posts
Oct 17, 2012
10:24 PM
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after abandoning mb1896 for mostly sp20s,I have recently gone back to them after winning some ebay bids on some new old stocks and recently bought a brand new one and am very happy with it...still like sp20s but that sound of the classic marine band...cant explain it,but its there...
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MN
203 posts
Oct 18, 2012
1:07 AM
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arzajac wrote: "After his show this summer, I got to speak with Curtis Salgado. ... He said 'I'll play anything anyone gives me so long as it's in tune.' and I thought what a great attitude!
The next day, I read the fine print on the CD jacket and it says 'Curtis Salgado plays Hohner Harmonicas customized by Joe Filisko'"
=================
Curtis also says on his bluesharmonica.com interview that he'll play anything as long as it's in tune. FWIW, I don't think the Filisko shout-out on the CD jacket changes that. It doesn't say "'Curtis Salgado ONLY plays Hohner Harmonicas customized by Joe Filisko.'"
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HawkeyeKane
1253 posts
Oct 18, 2012
6:43 AM
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@pharpo
Yes, Charlie now plays Seydels. I'm not sure about Ricci though. Last time I spoke with him about it, he said he preferred Spiers customs, but his favorite OOTB's were the Manji's. Course that's been over a year ago since that conversation took place.
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Hawkeye Kane
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HarpNinja
2783 posts
Oct 18, 2012
7:14 AM
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Ricci endorses Suzuki and most his recent vids have been with Manji's.
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Mike
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HarpNinja
2784 posts
Oct 18, 2012
7:25 AM
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I much prefer the overtones/EQ/presence of the Crossover the the warmer sounding MB, GM, or SP20. I like clean tones, though. I don't like warm sounding harps in a band context.
The other day I was trying to dial in a cleanish sound with my Greg Heumann bullet and was frustrated with the lack of clarity in the sound. I switched from using an unvented-full-length-cover custom Seydel 1847 in D to a D MB that I had drilled and opened (no real reed tweaking that would impact timbre) and it sounded much better.
I had a stock MB in A that I thought I really liked until I A/B'ed with my other A harps. Same sorta thing...it played fine and sounded good, but was overall to warm for my taste.
If I played mostly acoustic, I'd want a very different harp than if I were amped.
When I was at SPAH and at the blues harp thingy with Mitch Kashmar, Tom Ball, Stever Baker, and Joe Filisko, something really struck me. All were using some variant of the MB. Mitch was using stock harps (newer MB's), Tom's I don't know, Steve's were stock XO, and Filisko's were Filisko's.
While all guys played into the same PA mics, they had 4 VERY different sounds. Mitch had a great warm tone he created with his hands. Tom had a very typical tone - sounded acoustic, but not very cutting. Steve's tone cut right through everything and was maybe too bright. Joe, who used mostly low tuned harps while I was there, was great.
My point is simply that there was a lot of diversity in tone using relatively similar gear. IMO, it is easier for me to warm a sound using my hands or the mixer than it is trying to dial in clarity. Mitch and Joe's approach to playing acoustically to a PA mic were the best, IMO.
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Mike
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Rick Davis
822 posts
Oct 18, 2012
7:54 AM
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I think it is true that most "pros" play custom Marine Band harps.
I play stock SP20, Crossover, and Manji.
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-Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
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groyster1
2057 posts
Oct 18, 2012
10:02 AM
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good choices rick...they are all 3 strong harps
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pharpo
709 posts
Oct 18, 2012
1:26 PM
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my bad.... you are right JR plays suzukis not seydels ...the SSSss got me confused LOL
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Procrastinator Emeritus
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