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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Custom Beta-harp upgrade review
Custom Beta-harp upgrade review
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Sandbagger
1 post
Oct 19, 2012
12:17 PM
I'd like to share my Beta-harp experience, as I've been playing them almost exclusively for nearly 4 years. I'm an intermediate player who practises a lot and still has a way to go.

In 2008 I ordered my first two Beta-harps to try them out. Compared to the various harp models I'd played before (including other custom harps) I found that the tuning and playability of the Beta-harps was better than any harp I'd played – what really impressed me was how perfectly the chords and octaves were tuned. I had the X-treme models, and all overblows and overdraws were available. In 2009 I bought five more Beta-harps and I played those 7 harps constantly for the next 3-4 years.

In 2012 I ordered a new Beta-harp, and when it arrived it was even better (louder and more responsive) than my original 7 harps when they were new. Over the years Ben had raised the bar again by developing new ways to set up the harp and using new tools. I asked him to give my original 7 harps a checking over and bring them up to his latest standards, which he did at no charge and they came back sounding better than ever!

I have had less than a handful of reeds go flat over three years (I play my harps daily), all repairs and retunings have been carried out well within Ben's 3 week turnaround target, and at no cost, even if I blow a reed flat over 3 years after buying the harp. All questions over the years have been answered fully and promptly.

The value for money of Beta-harps is excellent – when you buy one you have a top-quality instrument for life, with retunings, repairs and the benefit of future innovations all at no extra cost for years afterwards, so although the initial cost was higher than I would have paid for other harps, when I look back at how much money I've spent on harps over the last 4 years I'm sure it's a lot less than many players who have to replace their harps or have them repaired at their own expense.

A few weeks ago I ordered a pair of the new beta-Harp cover plates and a corian comb to try them out. I found the cover plates to be a little "slidier" than the original Seydel cover plates, and as every increase in "slidiness" helps I now have them on all my harps.

The real surprise for me was the effect of the 5mm corian comb. First I tried it on my low D harp, which became noticeably more responsive and needed less air to play. The new comb made some Irish Em tunes possible for me on the Low D that I had previously only been able to play on my normal D, because for the faster tunes the low D needed too much air and the reeds took too long to respond.

I then switched the new comb and cover plates to my normal D harp, and found that the combination of increased slidiness and more importantly needing less air made a big difference when playing eg a fast jig 3x round for 2 minutes without many chances of a break to breathe, and decided it was really worth upgrading all my harps to the new combs. When I play the same tunes I've been playing for over a year on my upgraded harp I really notice the difference, for example I can now play Swallowtail jig 5x round and still be quite relaxed and have enough air for a big wailing finish, whereas before I was fairly breathless after 3x round.

I've also found that the blues sounds better with the corian combs. The notes sound clearer and brighter, so for example I now find it easier to imitate the sound of a John Lee Williamson turnaround where he plays 1-hole draw brightly, but my harps haven't lost the ability to get a big fat tone (holding a full 2-hole draw bend sounds at least as good as it did before, except that I don't fill up with so much air and it is a little clearer).

At band practise other band members have noticed the difference the corian combs make and without me soliciting comments have said that my notes sound clearer and my playing generally sounds better. So I am happy to thoroughly recommend Ben's Beta-harps to any level of player, over the last 4 years I have always found the quality of his harps and his service to be outstanding.

Sam Jones
Sandbagger
2 posts
Oct 19, 2012
12:19 PM
I posted the above review at Harp-L today and it was well received, so I thought I'd post it here too. Apologies to anyone who reads both forums, these are the only 2 places I've posted it, and as Beta-harps have been discussed here before I thought it might be of interest.
MP
2518 posts
Oct 19, 2012
12:51 PM
hello Sandbagger!

"The value for money of Beta-harps is excellent – when you buy one you have a top-quality instrument for life, with retunings, repairs and the benefit of future innovations all at no extra cost for years afterwards, so although the initial cost was higher than I would have paid for other harps, when I look back at how much money I've spent on harps over the last 4 years I'm sure it's a lot less than many players who have to replace their harps or have them repaired at their own expense."

oh, so that explains why i never see Ben B's harps come across my bench :-)
well, he also designed the 1847 (according to Christelle Berthon) and i don't fix Seydels.:-)

actually, unless the custom harp a person owns was from a builder who is waaay too busy building for well known pro players only, or has passed away, they will more than likely get free servicing.
i'm assuming here, because some builders may have rules like- if you break a reed, you pay for it.

i'm going to forum search Beta Harps because i don't remember anyone mentioning them recently.

good post. cheers, Mark
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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 19, 2012 12:58 PM
1847
295 posts
Oct 19, 2012
1:40 PM
I've also found that the blues sounds better with the corian combs

so corian sounds better that the delrin comb hmm
i call bullshit

this guy has two post hmm
is this spam?

having said that ben bouman
is good friends with bill barrett
pretty sure he can vouch for him

ben bouman is also a very good player


but come on the band members notitced
the corian comb sounded better
give me a break!
BeardHarmonica
145 posts
Oct 19, 2012
2:42 PM
I have not yet tried the new corian comb but I play beta-harps.

Ben is a master harmonica artisan. He's been doing this for years now.

He's been involved in the development of the 1847 and he's probably the first to have customized steel reeds.

To me there's no greater value than a beta-harp.

I have a couple low-harp on the work bench I can't wait to get my hand on.
bonedog569
669 posts
Oct 19, 2012
3:13 PM
Got my first 1847 from him yesterday. It's superb. Got a sub 30 recently too - I'm more excited about Bens harp. This has made me curious about the new cover plates and combs.
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