Swashbuckler73
4 posts
Feb 23, 2017
4:32 PM
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For the past week I have been enjoying my Joel Andersson (J.A. Harmonicas) Marine Band Master (http://jaharmonicas.com/marineband/mbmaster.html), which he has customized for "crispy regular notes, stable bends, and easy overbends." What has impressed me the most about this custom are those crispy notes. In my opinion, Joel has optimized his MB Custom for the blues idiom. The regular notes are crispy--that Marine Band-of-yesteryear sound that we all hope for OOTB--and they play evenly across the ten holes, blows and draws. The chords--tuned to Joel's compromise, which is closer to ET and which you can find on his site--stack just neatly enough when tongue blocking to preserve that crispiness across the register of the chord. The bends are easy, including the 3 draw and 10 blow 1/2-steps, both of which figure the easiest and most stable I have ever tried, even on similar key (Ab). I've said before that the Sjoeberg comb stands up against any aftermarket comb when it comes to comfort, airtightness, and volume. And the other appointments--the smooth edges, the brass details, the milled jatoba custom case--distinguish Joel's MB customs from his peers. He finished the harmonica in less than 2 months (consider that I've been waiting over 5 months now for a custom from a VERY well regarded U.S. tech). Shipping was fast and secure from Sweden to U.S. I couldn't be more pleased!
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