The trumpet player in my band has decided to take up harp after getting one as a Christmas gift.
It's an extremely nasty £1.50 harp and is completely out of tune.
I promised him I'd give him a C harp if he was serious.
I pulled out a very old (15 years plus) Big River MS series harp. The case has 'Lone Star Rider Harmonica' on it.
I've just pulled it out of a drawer and played it and it was horrible. Key of C and it was a struggle to even bend notes on it. Being a superb trumpet player, I knew it would be a frustration to him, so I gapped it and tightened down the screws.
I'm amazed! I can pop 1,4,5,and 6 overblows on it after 5 minutes of gapping and it bends and does everything else like a dream.
Either I'm an overblow genius (I'm not), or this is a seriously good harp.
It's one of my oldest harps. I did not like the way it felt against my lips and tongue. It was one of my least favorite, but now I think it's fine. I have not done the gapping and such, as you did, but I play it fine. I would not hesitate to use it on a gig. It's VERY durable.
I hate to admit it, but I believe it has a better tone than my Special 20 or Bluesmaster harps. But the tone may be due to that thicker harp which makes me open my mouth wider. :) ---------- HarmoniCollege March 24, 2012 theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
Thank you. I've been playing a Joe Spiers as my pocket harp.
I'm not suggesting it's a pimple on the hippo's butt of the Spiers harp, but it's good. It feels great and does the job. The only weird thing it that most of my harps are equal temperament and I can hear the Just intonation on this one.
Fuck it. The trumpet player is getting an old Lee Oskar. Heh.......
You get what you pay for. I just can't see paying under $30 (unless it is on sale and usually at a higher price) for any kind of harp and expecting it to be of quality.
I was talking with Junior Markham, legendary harp player from Tulsa at a blues festival this past summer. I asked him what kind of harps he used and he said Big River. I kind of laughed and said no sh!t? After hearing him play that night I bought a few. I'm telling you they are not bad. Cost about the same as new ms reed plates.
If you can do even basic work on a harp, the Big River can be a very serviceable harp. I always enjoy going back to play mine. I decided to keep one in the car so I have one in case I am not carrying any others...
when the bucks get low and you can`t afford any thing but a big river you`ll be glad they make them,I`M SO GLAD...... the low F is a great harp, also i`m 6`4`` and 250 lbs. so wind is no big thing for me on any harp.......
Last Edited by on Jan 10, 2012 3:42 AM
Excellent thread. I don't believe harps should be expensive. I don't need a harp right now, and I've got my sights on a Yamaha guitalele, but I'll keep Big Rivers in mind for the future.
(so you don't have to Google guitalele: -
) ---------- Andrew. ----------------------------------------- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000874537399
Last Edited by on Jan 10, 2012 5:20 AM
I have a few. I also wrecked a few trying to get them to play better, but I learned a lot in the process. They have a surprisingly nice tone for the price.
I bought one last week, actually, and I gapped it and it played quite well. It's in the key of D. The 4 overblow and the 7 and 9 overdraws squealed, so I did what is described in this video (see the 8 minute mark):
I was quite aggressive since a light touch had zero effect. I would have also adjusted the curve of the reeds, but they were all properly curved out-of-the-box. I have gotten acceptable results. The notes only squeal when I bend them more than just a bit.
I was tempted to buy a perfectly flat wood comb but I would spend less money by just buying a Marine Band so that's not a feasible plan.
To anyone who says they work on Big Rivers to get them to play better, what do you do to them specifically?
i heard the plates are the exact same as a blues harp. i can blow out a blues harp in one sitting. i had a big river a friend got from marlboro miles. i gave it away it was unplayable at a gig.
If Paul is using big rivers in this then they are good enough for anyone.
Edited to add, iv had a blues harp for 2 years and love it I only done a little embossing and gapping and I play hard. It has only very slightly went out of tune, easily fixed but I like It this way.
Last Edited by on Jan 10, 2012 12:08 PM
i swallowed a reed from a brand new blues harp, grabbed someones drink, gargled spit... got out. never again, i blow too hard. that was in 81 last year i played a blues harp.
As I recall the blues harps back in the eighties were pretty delicate. I've read that they were no different than a Marine Band at the time with different cover plates, but they certainly didn't play like any Marine Band I'd ever owned, and they didn't last long. Never broke a reed though, they just got all slushy. Back then I had no idea a harp could be tweaked.
A friend asked me to look at a couple of his harps recently. One had a food particle stuck in it, the other was an SP20 he'd only had for a few weeks, with one reed that was horribly flat. The reed was sitting way down in the slot and snapped off at the first very slight touch of the gapping tool. The reed itself was abnormally thin, just a defective piece of metal. Lucky for him it didn't break off while he was pulling a deep bend.
I suppose that could happen with any harp, but in decades I've never broken a reed.
yeah i never had a blues harp before then. i got a few because i was told they had the blues bends built in and you could play them straight out the box, no breakin in. i broke the one reed on two songs. then the other went flat in about a week (yeah mushy no balls). i switch to special 20, then pro harp in the 90s. but if im not mistaken the blues harp was included in those mel bay books in the 80s then later the pocket pal, and now blues band? im not knockin em, i just like to break em in my way.
I spoke with Tony Dannecker (UK harp customiser) last year. He's on retainer with Hohner to speak with 'reed swallowers' when they call Hohner and threaten legal action.
Apparently, no one has died or even felt ill effects from swallowing a reed.
I'm taking his word for it, of course, but his job is to talk the understandably concerned customer down and reassure them.
Yeah, my mentor Bad Bill had an incident with the SP20 several years ago. Sucked down the 4-draw on his F harp...twice...within two weeks of each other. Didn't even choke out to warn him, just snapped. But then, he usually uses about the same amount of air as a semi truck's air brakes.... ---------- Hawkeye Kane
i know this is bad for my neck but since that incident i keep my head down when playing especially when wailing i never arch my head back anymore. if there was a way to put a mesh screen over the harp. hmmm
Actually....there may be. I learned a trick to finding miniscule lost items like earring backs and BB's. Take a nylon stocking and stretch it over the hose head on your vaccuum cleaner, and it catches anything it tries to suck up. This might work in the same way on your harp if you can find a thin enough sample of nylon to prevent your airflow from being disrupted. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
