Welcome to the forum! Probably everyone posting an answer to your question will talk about learning breath control. That will be followed by each one's preference to make, model and tuning. Early on I destroyed 3 "G" harps. It's a learning process. In the end you'll find what works best for you. There are a number of builders and customizers on the forum who can offer advice and some will tell you how to achieve Sonny Terry's sound while others will encourage you to find your own sound or point you to lessons that could help. Whatever you do and whatever advice you decide to accept, just keep playing!
No reason at all. Sonny Boy and Big Walter had huge hands and look how Marine Bands worked out for them.
Marine Bands are great harps. I'd stick with them if it were me.
Any harp regardless of how much you pay for it or what model it is, will have a short life if you blow too hard. So the solution is to learn to learn breath control. Or get used to buying harps on a regular basis.
Last Edited by Kingley on Oct 25, 2015 6:04 AM
Hi and welcome as well Ofir. What Raven says is spot on. To me our business with this forum is to pass on experience and do what we can to help newer players. Hence when a lot of us hear about killing harps in a short time we key on the cause and solution. I will just say that until I learned to play with focus instead of force, I blew out a lot of reeds.
Harp choice for big hands, I'm average size and I have used everything from the old Hohner Vest Pocket/Piccolos, to Little Lady, to the 14 hole 365, to 12 hole chromatic. With time and practice I think you will adapt to whatever harp you choose. Keep looking but focus on the tone and other features you like! My go to harp is the Manji. If you have not tried one and can wait for them to come in at that shop, why not give one a try? Imho, one of the best out of box harps available. Built for durability and better volume, made to last. Reed plates are available and they are the best stock plates I've seen. Yes, I do still blow a reed here and there, but it takes far longer than it used to. In fairness I will say the Hohner MS series also has reed plates, and actually the Big River is a somewhat larger harp, with MS plates as well. They used to be very inexpensive but have gone up in price, like every other harp. Lee Oskar was the first to offer reed plates which could be swapped. Many like his harps as well.
It may be a good idea to see if you can find a mail order guy to ship you what you need and want. With just 3 choices there is so much more to try out! Here in the US we have guys like Rockin' Ron's. Great inventory, great service, fast shipping. I don't know where you are located but if you can find an online vendor who can ship to you, you will be able to expand your options a lot. I do know national borders can be a pain. We just sent CD's to a guy in Canada from here, and it took over 3 months for them to get to him! Inside the US it takes maybe 4 days.
So good luck Ofir, whatever you decide. This has been a great group for me and many others. Visit often!
I'd 2nd what's already been said and give another vote for tracking down a manji. If you like the responsiveness of your suzuki harps but don't like the sound, then the manji may suit you perfectly. Its why I have 8 of them!
Regarding playing with force...there is a point of diminishing returns in which the additional force expended gives less in return. All good players find the point at which the balance changes and try to stay at that tipping point. ---------- The Iceman
Stick with what you like and maybe use a little less force.I've yet to find a better playing and sounding harp out the box than MBs.Blues Harps can be greatly improved with a custom comb.Those Hering vintage 1923 harps have the old tuning u want and are also about the size of Blues Harps.
That's quite a piece of pro info, thanks ! Makes sense. Hopefully while I try to soften for the sake of these MB's and other harps, it doesn't cause much damage ?
You guys sure know a lot around here ! I'm happy I found this place.
One thing to add is that the lower key harmonica, the bigger risk of reed rattle. Out of my G harps, (MB, sp20, LO, BH), the Blues Harp is the one that rattles the easiest. On a higher key harp, like a D, I think it's safe to say you won't have reed rattle whatever brand harp you get. So you can't really compare reed rattle on one brand harp with another brand if they are in different keys. And then individual harp settings affect, like reed gapping. There are also ways to mod your harp to minimize rattle, like just putting a little tape on the inside of your cover, where the reed would hit it, to dampen the rattle sound. I never did it myself but some seem to like the solution. However, the more you play, the more you automatically adjust things like muscels, breathing and resonanse, so rattle will most likely become less and less of a problem for you and volume potential will still most likely increase. If you like the Marine Band, you could also try a special 20. They have the same reed plate and tuning and are a little bigger and chances are you would like them. If your shop can get Marine Bands, thy should probably be able to get a special 20 for you. It's always great to support your local shop, I always try to, but otherwise you could order one online.
I'm assuming that you're playing Hohner Thunderbirds? They have a specially designed cover plates to eliminate reed rattle. ---------- Tony Eyers Australia www.HarmonicaAcademy.com everyone plays...
Blues Harps are gapped wide and will take a lot of breath force.They may suit your present playing style better. If you like the sound of Sonny Terry,you won't like the Manji tuning. I like everything about the Manji except the tuning. D harps tend to blow out quickly if you play them too hard.
Ofir, If you like the tone and tuning of the Marine Band, but want a better harp, try the Marine Band Deluxe. Same sound, better response, nicer comb, stronger sound projection. The covers flare open, so no reed rattle problems. And easier service and cleaning, thanks to assembly with screws instead of 19th century nails.
Last Edited by A440 on Oct 26, 2015 5:13 PM
I must disagree with a couple of points in A440's last post. The deluxe covers are exactly the same as the standard marine band regarding reed rattle. And there is nothing in the design of the deluxe which would make it more responsive than the standard marine band. Perhaps the deluxe gets a bit more attention to setup in the factory. I think the standard marine band is inherently more airtight, but could be less consistently well-setup.
@SuperBee, my standard MBs in A and Bb are both leaky and suffer from reed rattle. My MB Deluxes in G and A are very airtight and the reeds never rattle. My Deluxes are MUCH more responsive.
I suspect it has to do with: 1. Better reed setup at the factory 2. Tighter assembly due to screws 3. Better comb tolerances/flatness 4. Standard MB covers flex/bend
Of course, there's no free lunch - the Deluxe costs more. But I find it to be a much better instrument.
Last Edited by A440 on Oct 28, 2015 12:36 PM
The deluxe is awesome. Sounds incredible. Regarding sp20 compared to BH, the sp20 is definitely more like the MB. It's a marine band with plastic comb. Not as raspy as the MB but plays very easily and smoothly, even better than the MB and the deluxe (I finf playing the BH a little sluggish), and with the slightly larger size and closed sides on the sp20 cover I find it's easier to get an airtight and fat tone when playing through a mic. And it's very easy to clean in water and take apart.
Also, just to make sure, are you sure your MB in D is blown? Have you removed the covers and checked the reed? Things like a small strain of hair can easily find its way in there and block a reed.
Also, remember to breath through the harp, from your stomach, not suck or blow, and keep the holes tilted against your lower lip, leaving just enough room for air to sip through the hole(s) you are playing. Good luck, let us know your impressions of your new harps :)
mb deluxe is great ootb........but marine band classics that are customized or pre war mb1896s that are restored......never had any harp that sounded as good
If you've destroyed your harp in a month and on lower pitched harps you hear a rattle on 1 raw, that tells me right off the bat you're playing with FAR TOO MUCH breath force, ESPECIALLY when bending notes and to be brutally honest about it, that's flat out really poor playing technique and 98% of beginning players and 50-75% of intermediate players have this very same problem. Any harp, OOTB or custom should last you at least a year when you don't use a hard breath force 24/7/365. If you experience similar problems with any other brand/manufacturer, then right off the bat, it ain't the harp, it's your technique. It doesn't matter much about hand size, but how you are able to use them in your overall technique, but you NEED to cut back on your breath force by a MINIMUM of at least 50-80% or this problem will keep repeating itself. It's too easy for players to blame the instrument because for many players, it's tough to own up to their technique faults. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
A follow up on Barbeque's comment- I'm asthmatic, so maybe I didn't attack with as much force, but I did blow out a harp the first time I tried playing at a practice where I wasn't amped and other people were. I bought an amp at a garage sale and a cheap mic and that was enough to get me 'loud' enough for my tastes (ear safety is a discussion for another day). I imagine if I'd kept playing without an amp I might well have blown out a lot more. It can be fun to play hard, but you can get that feeling that you are really wailing without overdoing it on your poor reeds. I grew up listening to a lot of metal and grunge, so I definitely appreciate being able to go all out, but it turns out you can do it without going all out.
also,even though a manji is my top choice, for your sonny terry sound,keep your eyes open for some herings. a master blues might do you.
also,a great option if you wanted to spend a dollar or two extra at rockin ron's,would be Just intonated suzuki reedplates,on a zajac comb ,with sp20 cover plates.
as a beginner,you certainly don't need a harp that fancy,but it would only cost you about $60 worth of parts from rockin' ron's :)
so,you certainly don't need it ,but if you wanted to treat yourself....
also,if you are anywhere near philly,i always have tons of harps sitting around that i could sanitize for you to try. ---------- www.shakeylee.com
I'm not remotely as experienced as many here, but I've been playing a good couple of years, and I have still not blown out a single reed (knock on wood). Seriously. Ok, I rotate a lot of harps, but I play daily and I always have a harp with me and just woodshed every chance I get. My first harp plays better than ever. Maaaybe has a little flat reed, but barely noticable. I actually played it today.
So I guess I'm lucky, but I also think there's mainly one thing I did that contributed to this. My first year or so I played a lot at night. And as I live in an apartment, I had to play as quiet as I could. So I used the opportunity to practice using the smallest amount of breath force needed to get a sounding tone. Mostly on a G harp. For hours and hours. I just wanted to program my muscle memory to all the holes and also practice getting clear notes and bends with as little breath force as possible. Just to get to know the harp, intuitively. It is almost kind of zen-like, the more relaxed you are, the more control you get and the easier it gets. I think it's kind of my foundation, kind of my starting point. It also gives a greatly increased dynamic range. And it's not that I generally play quiet. I don't think anyone I know would call my playing quiet in any way, It's just normal. If I want to I can "overdrive" and get really loud but I rarely do, because it feels like revving an engine, a cool effect that certainly can have it's place occasionaly, but you certainly don't want to overdo it because it loses it's effect and you will just burn out your engine in no time.
I'm not entirely sure, but I think practicing this technique I described also develops your tonal resonance, which also puts less stress on your reeds and improves your tone.
So just a tip on how you can make your harps last lot longer and practice your dynamic range.
Last Edited by Dragonbreath on Oct 28, 2015 10:25 PM
