HawkeyeKane
220 posts
Sep 23, 2011
8:49 AM
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Ran a search on it a minute ago and found some interesting posts, but nothing new in over a year. Has anyone recently tried anything from Hering? I thought Madcat's signature harp was really sweet looking.
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Hawkeye Kane
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nacoran
4663 posts
Sep 23, 2011
11:18 AM
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I had a friend buy a Hering. He complained that it smelled terrible. :)
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Nate
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HawkeyeKane
222 posts
Sep 23, 2011
11:28 AM
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They shoulda hired you for the Tonight Show instead of getting Leno back, Nate. ;-)
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Hawkeye Kane
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Todd Parrott
704 posts
Sep 23, 2011
11:45 AM
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Herings (diatonics) are just kinda mediocre harps as far as I'm concerned, but I kinda feel the same way about Seydel...
Last I heard, Herings are no longer marketed in the USA and are only available in South America, but this is just hearsay - not sure how accurate this is.
The Hering booth was at SPAH 2010, and they were trying to promote the Golden Blow as the perfect model for overblowing, I suppose because Octavio Castro supposedly uses them. I tried it and thought it was just awful, but didn't want to offend the guy at the Hering booth. Chris Michalek also tried it, and commented that it didn't overblow and overdraw well, to which the Hering rep made the mistake of replying, "you need to work on your technique." Needless to say, this didn't go over too well with Chris. Bottom line, the harp was nothing special at all, and was way overpriced.
Even if it was great, there's NO way I'd play a harp called the Golden Blow, Silver Blow, or anything with blow in the name.
I've owned a few Herings in the past, and have never cared for them that much, nor did I like anything I tried on the Hering table at SPAH, and I tried them all. The Hering Blues model, as well as the Madcat model, Jefferson Goncalves model, etc, are all large harps like the Hohner MS Models and the Seydel 1847. I like the smaller size of the Hohner handmade series, but that's just me.
This Hering model appears to be interesting though:
Hering RK-20
Anyone tried this one? Not sure about the mouthpiece, but I love the cover plates.
Last Edited by on Sep 23, 2011 11:46 AM
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joshnat
159 posts
Sep 23, 2011
11:46 AM
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I played 1923's for a while. Nate's right, they do smell terrible, and taste terrible too. But you can get over it. It's the only reasonably priced harp out there with JI, and I really liked that. The first several I bought played really nicely, but I went through a couple of sets in about a year because I kept blowing them out. I moved to Marine Band Deluxes, and now SP20's. When I play my old Herings, they feel very leaky, but they still sound really, really nice. I've wished for another OOB harp where I could get JI. The 1923's are also very heavy compared to most harps (except metal comb harps), which I thought was nice too.
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HawkeyeKane
223 posts
Sep 23, 2011
12:04 PM
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"Last I heard, Herings are no longer marketed in the USA and are only available in South America, but this is just hearsay - not sure how accurate this is."
http://heringusa.net/
I've heard harpdepot isn't being run the way it used to be. But this seems to be the most surefire way of getting them stateside.
In terms of the reviews, it just kinda surprises me. As much of a harp-enthusiastic country as Brazil is, I'd have thought their diatonics would be killer!
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Hawkeye Kane
Last Edited by on Sep 23, 2011 12:13 PM
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DanP
213 posts
Sep 23, 2011
12:45 PM
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There's many places online that sells Hering harmonicas but they are not that common in music stores in the U.S. at least I haven't noticed any in the music stores I've been to. Amazon sells many different models of Herings and that's where I bought the one Hering harp I own. It's a Hering Free Blues. I would rate it average. I have better harps and I have worst. It's not bad for the money (about $20 ) and it's well made with sturdy stainless covers with a plastic comb. Not as responsive as I would like but it seems to be gradually getting better in that department. It didn't play that well out of the box because of stiff reeds and needed a break-in period.
The Free Blues would make a good spare harp for the common keys and maybe a first harp for the seldom used keys like "B".
As for the other Hering diatonics I don't know. I've read mixed reviews of them on the web.
The chromatics seem to be popular with chrom players. I've heard and read good reports on them.
Last Edited by on Sep 23, 2011 12:49 PM
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bharper
57 posts
Sep 23, 2011
12:56 PM
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I bought a few of the 1923 "vintage" Hering harps. They smell, taste, and play terrible.
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JInx
65 posts
Sep 23, 2011
6:20 PM
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I hate hearing that about the 1923 model. I very wanted to try one of those just tuned jobbers.
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walterharp
705 posts
Sep 23, 2011
6:33 PM
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the 1923 i purchased years ago did taste terrible to start, but with a bit of airing was fine. they have a very mellow tone and have extra thick reed plates, so have some benefits if you like that. with a little work they are really nice harps, and the tuning makes them chord really nice too. yeah i know you could do that tuning yourself.
i guess i just like the funky old time feel of those harps... would i buy a whole set, no, worth having one or two. yes.
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Sarge
74 posts
Sep 23, 2011
8:39 PM
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When the 1923 first came out I bought some of them. Some were great, some weren't. QC was bad. I thought the good ones played very nice. I have a couple of hering chromatics which I really like.
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Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
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Sarge
75 posts
Sep 23, 2011
8:39 PM
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When the 1923 first came out I bought some of them. Some were great, some weren't. QC was bad. I thought the good ones played very nice. I have a couple of hering chromatics which I really like.
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Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
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nacoran
4665 posts
Sep 23, 2011
11:23 PM
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Great, I get my best applause when, for once, I'm playing it perfectly straight!!!
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Nate
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boris_plotnikov
623 posts
Sep 24, 2011
12:29 AM
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I had some cheap hering diatonics they were ok, very responsive, but reed was too fragile, they lasts two or three weeks. I also had four hering chromatics, they are very cool and responsive, very comfortable mothpies, but I blow out about 6 reeds in them, that's uncommon for me, I failed Hohner reeds much rare. So now my main 64 is Hering Deluxe Black, I don't play it a lot and it's in top working order (Seydel don't offer 16holers, so I use Hering for gigs and Swan for practice).
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Last Edited by on Sep 24, 2011 12:30 AM
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cloud1i
30 posts
Sep 24, 2011
1:54 AM
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My 1923 too has a smell. However, the Herring Custom Silver Blow is a great harp to play, especially for chromatism playing. OBs and ODs easily, even the hole 1 Ob. Having said that, the pricing is high too. US$180.
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colman
81 posts
Sep 24, 2011
3:06 AM
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I`ve had a FREE BLUES hering for 5 yrs. plays like a ,MB.though it`s a back up harp and gets used a little bit.and it cost $15...if i run into any i surely would buy them...
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groyster1
1426 posts
Sep 24, 2011
5:53 AM
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I saw madcat live last spring with triple play-wish I had asked him what he liked about herring but we mostly talked about pocketful of soul and that he had not yet seen it
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NiteCrawler .
134 posts
Sep 24, 2011
6:33 AM
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Years ago when the 1923,s first came onto the market I bought 3 or so out at Kevins Harps in Bordentown,N.J..Kevins brother Bob told me that the quality control from the Hering Co. was pretty laxed and took the covers off of the harp and the screws that held the reedplates down where very loose,which of course explains the leakiness.After tightening down of those, the harp was much better,although in time the ended up in the blown harp pile.Out of the box after the adjustments they were very responsive.
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