Are the reed plates good enough that the harp could be customized and elevated from a "cheap harp" into something "giggable"? Are the reedplates compatable with the combs/covers of better suziki harps?
I ask because you can easily get a full set of 12 of these harps for under $110 in Canada. At $11 per hapr, this is WAY cheaper than I could find replacement reedplates for any other harp.
I have a folkmster in G which I have currently re-tuned to PowerDraw, and half-valved using my own bicyle inner-tube method. It sounds pretty good. It's not nearly as well set-up as my preferred Seydel Session Steel in PowerDraw with PT Gazel half-valves, but it does sound pretty good.
I am doing my best to flatten the reedplate, gapping, etc, and it's still relatively quite leaky. Not sure if it's a winnable battle...
If it turns out that the quality of the cheap reed plates are such that they will require substantially more maintenence to keep working than better harps, and will wear out completely faster, then why would I invest the effort in setting up cheap harps in the first place?
I have collected a wide variety of harps over the years. I have a few older (and supposedly better than recent?) Folkmasters. I recently revisited them and compared to my other harps. After my recent experience with them I don't think they are worth the trouble to customize, but they could fill in if I had an emergency need.
This is unlikely, because they would be low on my list, with the few Huang Silvertones and couple of Big Rivers I still have. I have many better harps in my second and third and fourth sets that I would choose before any of them for a gig.
I have been impressed by the East Top 008K riveted Blues Pro, $23 from Rockin' Ron's. I picked up 4 keys at SPAH and they are comparable in my opinion to mid priced harps, and maybe even some higher priced harps. OB 6 out of the box, and with small gapping adjustments they play great. I think they are a bargain! I didn't care for the feel of the black finish on the covers (I am used to slicker metal), so I swapped them for some leftover Big River covers that fit just fine without any modification except bending in the back supports a little. I would gig with them.
I would buy more of them, but I have so many layers of redundancy of harps that I haven't convinced myself to buy more yet, despite the bargain they represent. ----------
Doug S.
Last Edited by dougharps on Dec 03, 2016 1:48 PM
Thanks Doug. I suppose that given my intention to do a fair bit of my own re-tuning, and alternate tunings, I am on the lookout for harps with reasonably priced replacement reedplates.
The Hohner MS series is likely what I've settled on for now, but given how cheap these damn Folkmasters are, I just want to sus out whether there is any way I could make use of the reedplates in some way or another.
Any word on the compatability of their reedplates with other Suzuki harps? Any Suzuki guys out there know?
---------- Rob Laferrière Russell, MB, Canada
Last Edited by WoozleEffect on Dec 03, 2016 2:05 PM
When we get them back at Suzuki US the protocol is to simply replace them. I just retuned one tho, the customer complained that one was out of tune--well, they are ET!
Makes sense. For $11-15, my G sounded pretty good. Leaks a bit, but it's still pretty loud considering. And it rattles a bit on the low reeds, but that is understandable given how low-profile the covers are. (And perhaps how may times it's been stepped on or sat on.)
I liked that the plates had the grove along the front, like a MB or the Hohner MS plates. I figured that that might give me a shot of putting in a new solid comb and new cover plates and suddenly having a kick ass harp. And replacement plantes would cost me... whatever a folkmaster happens to cost at the time... which is way cheaper than replacement plates for my Hohner MS harps.
I may try building a new comb for one of them and see what happens.
---------- Rob Laferrière Russell, MB, Canada
Last Edited by WoozleEffect on Dec 03, 2016 2:33 PM
There is no reason to settle on the MS series. The reed plates cost as much or more than top of the line Suzuki plates. Hohner MS harps were a good deal when replacement reed plates were $15, but that was 8-10 years ago.
Rob you may be the person most expert on working on folk masters. I know one player who likes them as 'don't care' harps for outdoors campfire sessions where food is consumed and drinks are drunk, but I don't know anyone who works on them. I think the reedplates are incompatible with other Suzuki harps. Reeds are brass, and reedplate screw pattern is different. I understand they are sourced from different manufacturer than the other Suzuki harps.
Hi Wooz! I'm just a few doors down the road in Red Deer, AB. Thank Heaven for Suzuki whose prices have increased only marginally against the Canadian dollar when Hohner and others have more than doubled in the last few years. I have a few Folkmasters. They are better than most of the under $20 crowd, but honestly, still not instruments I would gig with (other than chugging and chording at a campfire as per SuperBee)or even use as practice harps. Mine are all now either tuning experiments or reed donors(when the 2.1mm profile works.)The reeds are decent, the reed plates, not so much. Also, the reedplates are close in size to Marine band, but hole placement is entirely different. I have not seen anything they fit on. I have put Firebreath and Fabulous reedplates on Andrew Zajac's combs, but that is how I make myself a $200 harp for under $50. I wouldn't suggest putting $5 reed plates on a $25 comb. IMHO you will be happier in the long run if you invest that $100 in 4 Harpmasters at $22.99 from Kaz at Musicians Webstore in Hamilton, Ontario, or a 6 pack of Bluesmasters for $159. These are easily on par with the Hohner MS series (Big River, Proharp)and absolutely "giggable". If you want Reedplates just to experiment on, Kaz can set you up with Folkmaster plates at under $6 per set.
I'll second Chris L. on the Suzuki Harpmaster . Just a few $ more than a Folkmaster and every one I've gotten has played great right out of the box . They don't seem to require as mutch breath as my L.O.'s and the only reason I stick more with L.O.'s is the readily available and reasonably priced reed plates . Good tone and volume and I gig with them regularly . I'm no pro by a long shot ( You guys who put videos on here out class me by far ! ), just a guy who plays at local venues and sits in with a few different bands . They serve me well
Hi Woozie! "Warning! Tinkering can be addictive and expensive!" However, it is still cheap compared with smoking and is not known to lead to horrible diseases! That said: The first time I put a high end reed plate on one of Andrew's combs, I used a spare set of Folkmaster covers, but the resulting instrument looked and felt low quality, no matter how well it played. I tried a set of Special 20 covers and even though they are designed for recessed plates, they fit and play really well. Plus,they look better on a sandwich plate than on their original plastic, although that may be a subjective impression. So I picked some up a few sets from Rockin' Ron's for about $7USD per set. There are plenty of options for beautiful specialized cover plates from Blue Moon Harmonica or others who frequent this site. But as a low cost option I can vouch that Special 20 covers will fit on a Firebreath or Fabulous reed plate. Andrew has an article on using a sandwich comb with Special 20 or Lee Oskar reed plates and covers: http://harp.andrewzajac.ca/sandwitch It is even easier if you are using reed plates already smoothed for use in a sandwich style harp. Enjoy and Tinker on!
Chris, Do the Firebreath plates come in Equal Temprement?
On Andrew Zajac's site, the Suzuki comb appears compatible with a large number of Suzuki harps, but does not list the Firebreath or Fantastic. Are they interchangable with the Promaster or Manji?
Yes,you could use the same comb for a firebreath,fabulous ,manji and promaster . And you could use sp20 covers. You could also fit all of those reedplates in a promaster/bluesmaster. ---------- www.shakeylee.com
Last Edited by shakeylee on Dec 13, 2016 7:06 PM
As I understand it most Suzuki compromise tuning has the thirds at minus 5, everything else is zero, ie. very close to ET. I haven't tested it against a tuner, but I think the Firebreath fits in that category. The Fabulous comes in two temperaments,ET and Just. As Shakeylee says, they both fit Andrew's standard Suzuki comb.
Woozie: I am bumping up an old thread about Suzuki and Hohner because it contains a wealth of relevant info!
Last Edited by Chris L on Dec 13, 2016 8:18 PM
SOME THINGS ARE JUST GREAT IN HOW RATTY AND AWFUL THEY ARE. I actually love these little harps ...I wouldnt play 'em live but somewhere someday there is a studio track that will need that harp!!!! www.mooncat.org
That is quite amazing,like really? A 3$ plastic harp can sound like that. Whats that mean to the it's the comb, covers, flat sanding, reed profiling etc etc mentality that we all seem to be obsessed with these days. I suppose it confirms that it is not the gear but the player. Well done Christelle
