harpdude61
175 posts
Jun 01, 2010
11:55 AM
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I'm here checking out the Suzuki Fabulous diatonic F-20E on Rockin Rons. Here are some quotes from the ad.
"No need to customize. This harp is the Rolls Royce of all Harps!!!! "
"In a quest for the pure beauty of timbre, Suzuki redesigned and tested every part through an exhaustive prototype process. The precision tolerances achieved in the Fabulous harmonicas are unmatched by any other production harmonica — and you can hear it in the way the reeds respond soulfully to even the lightest breath. Superb air tightness and instant response of the reeds to every breath creates a feeling of euphoria."
This harp sells for $225.00, which is $45 more than the B-rad. You guys that play custom harps...would you have this one customized too?
I am a Golden Melody guy and all I do is gap reeds. I play 4,5,6 OB and have just reached a point where I play 7,9,10 OD on some of the keys. All of these holes bend up pretty well too.
I guess I just wonder if I'm missing something. I've never played a custom harp. I just find it hard to believe harps at this price need to be tinkered with.
Still learning....trying to figure whats best for me....Thanks.
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Kingley
1224 posts
Jun 01, 2010
12:07 PM
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I'm a Hohner Marine Band guy, so I wouldn't personally buy that harmonica.
I would buy either a Joe Spiers or Chris Michalek custom harmonica.
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MP
376 posts
Jun 01, 2010
12:12 PM
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don't buy it.
it is too much to pay for a non custom.
get a custom like kingley said.
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harpdude61
176 posts
Jun 02, 2010
5:13 AM
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I agree. If I'm going to spend that much, I will.
There must be a market for the "Fabulous" type of harmonica??...but not on this forum..
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The Gloth
395 posts
Jun 02, 2010
5:24 AM
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It seems that every harp manufacturing company has to have one very expensive model for sale, it's mainly a question of prestige. Suzuki has the "fabulous", Seydel has a silver-plated limited edition of the "1847", etc. But I think these items are more for collectors than for musicians.
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barbequebob
882 posts
Jun 02, 2010
10:28 AM
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The Fabulous uses one major component that is very expensive and that's a brass comb and I believe it's a plated brass comb and the majority of plastic combed harps start out as a petroleum based liquid that's poured into an injection mold and that's waaay cheaper to make and less care is taken on the production line with those.
Would one customize it? Why not?? Remember, this is out of the box made for the masses, not set up for inddividual players only, which is a custom harp and I know of plenty of guitar players for a FACT who have their $3000 martin acoustic guitars customized by luthiers for them so why not these. As Rod Piazza once told me, "harp players are often too broke or too cheap to buy the right stuff."
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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Todd Parrott
56 posts
Jun 02, 2010
10:53 AM
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There is NO way that this or any other harp could play as well as a custom harp right out of the box, because every customER is different and will have different needs requiring the harp to be set up to specifically meet those needs. I think the Fabulous is a good harmonica though. I would play it if were customized, but I couldn't bring myself to pay $225.00 for an out-of-the-box harp. I played it at the VA Harmonicafest, and while it played well, it was no custom harp - but then again, this is virtually impossible for any harmonica to be a custom right out-of-the-box. I have to give credit to Suzuki for trying to be innovative though. I have a lot of respect for them, as they really do make some good harmonicas. However, as an overblower/overdrawer, some of their harps just won't work well for me. The Fabulous has the correct reed profiles for overblowing, but would still require some setting up.
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harpdude61
178 posts
Jun 02, 2010
11:55 AM
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Bob and Todd...I am sold.... Since I play OBs and ODs I need to invest in my first custom harmonica. Now the decision..I'm positive I will stick with Golden Melody...and I'm guessing start with the key of C. I know of Joe and Chris..any others? Are the waits usually long? If anyone wants to advise off forum....harpdude61 at yahoo...
Todd...have you ever bent the 10 OD up a 1/2step to the major 5th in 2nd position. I can get close before losing it on some harps.
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Kingley
1227 posts
Jun 02, 2010
12:00 PM
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Harpdude61 - Joe Spiers, Chris Michalek and Jimmy Gordon (of the Filisko Guild) are the best around..
All good customisers are busy guys with fairly long waiting lists. The best way to find out how long, is to email them directly and ask.
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ZackPomerleau
892 posts
Jun 02, 2010
12:10 PM
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HarpDude, I think Chris has a four or so month wait. You get a free lesson, too, so I'd check him out. I have one of his harps, AMAZING quality.
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Todd Parrott
57 posts
Jun 02, 2010
12:40 PM
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harpdude61,
Yes, bending the 10 overdaw up is NO problem on Spiers' harps, even on harps as high as the keys of Eb and E.
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Todd Parrott
58 posts
Jun 02, 2010
12:53 PM
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And Joe is definitely worth the wait. Check with him on the wait time, but on my last few orders it's been very fast. Depends on his work load I suppose.
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barbequebob
883 posts
Jun 02, 2010
1:13 PM
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From experience, once you start playing customs, you may not ever want to play a stock harp ever again.
One thing to remember is that customizers all are doing HAND LABOR, and that is ALWAYS gonna take far more time than anything out of the box, and the factory is spitting out 1,000 harmonicas in an hour and they're rarely gonna take the kind of time necessary to even come remotely close to the quality of a custom harp, and from the business side, taking people off the production line to do all of that is veery expensive and very time consuming and if they did, that $50 out of the box instrument you could easily add another $100+++ to the cost.
If a customizer has less than a month turnaround time, I'd stay away from them and the better ones are always gonna have at least 3-6 months turnaround time.
Joe Filisko now only does customs for the big name pros on his client list simply because he's far too swamped with orders to even consider anyone new and the last time he was taking on new customers was about 4-5 years ago, and even then, his turnaround time was 18 months, and none of his customers complained about it because he's in the top of the food chain.
You will NEVER get the kind of reed work from ANY out of the box harp no matter who makes it and that alone seperates the difference betwrrn not only out of the box harps and the manufacturers, but also among the customizers.
If you go custom and play overblows, always make sure you get it from someone who does that setup because the ones that don't can't play them themselves and if they can't play them, how can they set them up properly for you.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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ness
220 posts
Jun 02, 2010
1:26 PM
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I don't disagree with anything that's been said about customs. But...there's surely some extra something done to the Fabulous, not just pricier materials. So, maybe, it's pretty damn good right outta the box. And Rockin' Ron could have it to you by Friday.
Just sayin.
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John
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jim
83 posts
Jun 02, 2010
1:41 PM
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I would customize one. (but I wouldn't buy one in the first place...) But if I had one by some chance, I would.
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www.truechromatic.com
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harpwrench
282 posts
Jun 02, 2010
2:04 PM
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My wait time is about 5 months right now. Thanks for the props Todd.
I have worked with a couple Fabulus harps and they responded well to my efforts to bring out the best in them. Would also mention that Brendan Power confirmed awhile back (on this forum I believe) that the Manji shares the same reeds as the Fabulus. So I think it could be useful to get a Manji (and gap it to suit yourself), to see if you like how the Suzuki reeds sound and play before investing in the more expensive model.
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harmonicabruce
3 posts
Jun 02, 2010
2:06 PM
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A few years ago I ordered a gold golden melody from europe, and gave it to Jason Ricci (he had never seen one, they're not available in the US) A few days later I saw him, and he let me play the gold golden melody after he had worked on it. I never knew how well I could overblow, it was great. If I could afford hundreds of dollars for custom harps, I'd buy them. I have a Seydel 1847, $90, and its pretty nice, but not that much better than the regular golden melodies.
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Todd Parrott
63 posts
Jun 02, 2010
10:27 PM
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A Gold Golden Melody:
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Mojokane
23 posts
Jun 02, 2010
11:27 PM
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Here's a tip...
see MP if you want your harps tuned. He's not only a stand up guy...all I know is my harps haven't sounded better.
He offers advice and shows me stuff. He is somewhat of a local legend here in Hawaii. And has been at it for years. Hawaiians still live in grass shacks out here. And to find someone like MP, is nothing short of a miracle. Check him out. He's real good.
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harpdude61
182 posts
Jun 03, 2010
1:33 AM
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Had no idea the wait was that long for a custom harp. Hmmmm....seems to be a market for harp customization skills. I bet it is hard to get your name out as a customizer unless you are also a well known player.
Great looking harps Todd.
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MP
393 posts
Jun 03, 2010
2:53 AM
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thanks for the praise Mojokane but i'd direct an overblower or anyone to the customizers mentioned above.
i'm simply not in their league.
but since your so cool i'll make you a new SP20 in C for free.
Last Edited by on Jun 03, 2010 2:58 AM
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harmonicabruce
4 posts
Jun 03, 2010
12:45 PM
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WOW Todd, where did you get those combs?
I'd love to get a titanium comb, I'll even shape the outside of it myself.
If someone will PLEASE tell me how to include a picture in a post, I'll put up a pic of mine.
Thanks
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Todd Parrott
66 posts
Jun 03, 2010
2:41 PM
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The Corian and Bloodwood combs came from Randy Sandoval at genesisharmonicas.net, and the Fantasy Marble came from Chris Reynolds at blowyourbrassoff.com.
In fact, I just got 3 more combs today from Chris - aluminum, passionwood (pink dymondood), and olympia dymondwood. I'll try and post a picture of those later, but here are some more my combs that I got from Randy:
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MP
397 posts
Jun 03, 2010
5:46 PM
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harmonica porn.
i think i need some air, or maybe a cold shower.
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harmonicabruce
5 posts
Jun 06, 2010
9:21 AM
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I'm trying to display a picture of my harp:
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GermanHarpist
1520 posts
Jun 06, 2010
9:43 AM
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Good try, harmonicabruce. You've got to upload it to some webspace first, though.
Have a look at the forum how-to (linked on the main page) for some tips on how to do that. If you have any questions or problems write me a mail (see profile description).
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YT - Music isn't created... it's evolved.
Last Edited by on Jun 06, 2010 9:51 AM
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MP
425 posts
Jun 06, 2010
11:36 AM
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Yeah! show us your tines!! whoohoo!!
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nacoran
2011 posts
Jun 06, 2010
12:13 PM
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From a pure inventory management point of view I'd think that if it takes months to get a custom harp maybe the harp customizers aren't charging enough. Maximize your profits boys!
Wait, no, what am I saying. Darn capitalism.
Seriously though, assuming a customizer for some reason has no backlog and has the harp he is going to customize sitting in his hand and has done everything he could to make sure he can do the project as quickly as he can without compromising quality, how long does it take for you customizers to actually do a harp start to finish? (I seem to remember someone saying there was some down time in the process, letting reeds settle, finishes dry, etc.)
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Nate
Facebook
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MP
426 posts
Jun 06, 2010
12:27 PM
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i like to let mine sit for three weeks to cook. i feel this is sufficient time for the reeds to adjust.
i've noticed that if they are played too soon they lose a lot of what made them better.
i have no idea how long the real pros allow, but i'd be very interested to find out.
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jim
109 posts
Jun 06, 2010
2:16 PM
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I have noticed that those harps I've been customizing real long (a bit here and there every day and over a long time) - are much more "idiot-proof". Meaning, they play well even if you disassemble them and clean in a scruffy way. When assembled back, they play exactly the same way.
That is unfortunately not the case with harmonicas customized quickly. When you take one apart and assemble again, reedplate curvature changes, screws are tightened differently, and etc.
Anyway I always do that check. I just noticed that when customized slowly and long, a harmonica plays better than another one customized a lot but quickly.
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www.truechromatic.com
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MP
431 posts
Jun 06, 2010
2:38 PM
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hi jim,
i will work slowly for a long time too. (especially embossing) and then let them sit. maybe i wait too long, but i don't think so.
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nacoran
2020 posts
Jun 06, 2010
4:02 PM
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I guess my goal, if I was trying to make a living at it would be to charge enough so that the order backlog only was only the time to customize with enough fudge factor so I didn't sit on my hands with nothing to do. I know a truly 'custom' harp is set up for the individual player. How much of that is the actual customizing and how much is just the part you'd do to any harp you were suping up?
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Nate
Facebook
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jim
113 posts
Jun 06, 2010
11:46 PM
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be sure it takes 10-15 hours.
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www.truechromatic.com
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ness
227 posts
Jun 07, 2010
6:01 AM
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Hey Harpdude61. I found this jewel -- it's only slightly more expensive than a top custom. May just be worth a look:
http://www.tiffany.com/Shopping/item.aspx?cookietest=1&assortmentid=101&originurl=%2FShopping%2FCategoryBrowse.aspx%3Fcid%3D480684%26mcat%3D148207&sku=12024851&search_param=s+5-p+1-c+480684-r+-x+-n+6-ri+-ni+0-t
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John
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