Has anyone ever compared the B-rad harmonica to the Suzuki Fabulous? I know these are not custom harps but they must be the closest harps available.
Suzuki prices the Fab at $329.95, Musicians Friend at $279.95, and good ole Rockin Ron has a few at $195 with free shipping. That's close to the price of a B-rad, and you could have your harp in a couple of days. I've heard Suzuki has great service.
The ad for the Fab states...... "Suzuki has specially designed the reeds of the Fabulous to make overblows and overdraws easy to play, smooth-sounding and stable.".....and....."Long Profile Phosphor Bronze Reeds, designed exclusively for the Fabulous diatonics, produce a more powerful and dynamic sound."......Are these reed profiles different than other harps made by Suzuki? more similar to my Golden Melodys?
In this video, the awesome Brendan Power admits to not being an overbender, but he sure seems comfortable hitting overblows and especially the overdraws.
Maybe there is something I do not know , but the Fabulous seems to me like a great alternative to the B-Rad. I need a few more quality harps to complete a full set and I would love to hear some knowledgeable opinions.
"The ad for the Fab states...... "Suzuki has specially designed the reeds of the Fabulous to make overblows and overdraws easy to play, smooth-sounding and stable.".....
Well the Hohner Marineband has the same ability..... Ore the Golden Melody... and a number of other harps to.
If you learn how to set your harps for overblows, you will save enough money to buy a car...
For the price of the Fab, I'd rather get one or two customs(depending on the price you pay for the Fab and various customs) made for the way I play. If you have money to burn, you mihgt like it, but that's a pricey gamble when you can buy a good custom made for YOU by a reputable builder. ----------
Call Helen at HARMONICAS AND STUFF and see what price they can give you for a special order. They usually have excellent pricing and are willing to special order stuff that's not on their website.
I have a Fabulous in C. That's what originally motivated me to get a set of custom harps. The bends are impressively precise on the Fabulous and the harp is very responsive. But the Fab is not as good as a quality custom harp. I like metal combs, but the brass comb of the Fab is very HEAVY.
I don't OB at all, but I was able to pop the 6 OB on my Fabulous on just about the first try. Blow bends are easy to hit, too. I think the Fab has a very BRIGHT tone, but part of that is the tighter tolerances.
The reeds on the Fab are long like on the Manji. The other Suzukis all have short reeds.
Excellent harmonica, but somewhat overpriced IMHO. When they first came out, you could get them for $199 if you shopped around. I think customs are a better deal. Don't know anything about the B Rads.
Suzuki customer service is outstanding.
At one point, I had to send my C Buddha Harp back to Chris for some fine tuning and I replaced it (temporarily) with my Fabulous in my performing set. My back up set consists of my previous performing set of Suzuki Hammonds which i still like a lot, so I'm partial to Suzukis anyway.
Last Edited by on Dec 20, 2010 8:17 AM
I have been setting up my GMs for overbends for over a year and was pretty well satisfied with the result until I recieved my custom GMs...the difference...the OBs are so much easier and smoother, that it plays like any other note.
With wait times what they are for customs and hearing Brendan play the overbends, I thought it might be a chance to try something new IF I know I'm getting something much much better than my self-gapped GMs and pretty close to a custom.
The Suzuki Fabulous is not really all that Fabulous, especially at that price. I tried them at the last 2 SPAH conventions and at other harmonica conventions and wasn't overly impressed. Not saying they are bad harps, but they just don't live up to what they claim to be. I do like the Firebreath. To me, it seems to overblow just as easily as the Fabulous right of the box.
As for the B-Radical, I hear that they are even better now than when they first started. Even the B-Radical I own played better out of the box than the Fabulous, even before it was customized by Joe.
If you don't mind the wait, I would go with the B-Radical.
Thanks Todd, I do have a Firebreath, but I don't like it as much as my GMs. I also have a Promaster. Both Suzuki harps are a little "stiffer" than what I'm used to. I thought the Fab might be somewhat different because of the reed profile.
The "feel" of a Fab is not radically different from the "feel" of a Hammond or a Firebreath. All have tighter tolerances and better compression than OOB Hohners which is why the Suzukis may feel "stiff" if you are used to Honers. I'm not sure that the shorter reed profiles on the Hammond and Firebreath have much to do with it, but others may disagree.
I don't like anything as much as the Golden Melody, but I do think the Hammonds are one of the most beautiful harps there is.
I think the reed profiles in the Firebreath are different than the Hammonds and the Promasters, which is why the Firebreath is supposed to be more suitable for overblows. It gets confusing with Suzuki sometimes.
The real question is, why don't they just make all of their models with the same reed profiles so that all are suitable for overblows? I'm not sure what the advantages are of the shorter profiles. Does anyone know?
Funny thing - for non overblow playing - my bluesmasters (which I believer have a shorter reed profile) are as or more consistently responsive oob than the manjis and hammonds and the promaster I have. I like the tone and tuning better than the manji too (comb suggestions anyone?) - and it's louder than the hammond. It's not built as well as those harps though -especially the hammond and promaster.
The point is - I guess there are tradeoffs for every design option.
At some point I will try waxing the rivet ends to see if it helps with the tendency to squeal on OB's. ----------
I tried a couple of the fabulous harps at SPAH this year, and the first one I tried was excellent, I was really impressed. All the overblows came out easily and sounded good, and the blow reeds didn't choke when played with a harder articulation. It was the best OOTB harp I've played. Then I tried a second one, and I was really let down, it wasn't that it was bad(although some of the low end bends were not so good), it was just not nearly as good as the other. You could get a much cheaper harp that would play just as well. I think the good one may just have been a fluke. With some gapping I'm sure I could have gotten the harp to work really well, but for $195 it's just not worth it to me. Especially when you have no guarantee on how good it will be (because it doesn't have an experienced player checking it and tweaking it before it gets sent out), maybe you'll get a great one(like the first one I tried), or maybe you'll simply get a mediocre one (like the second one I tried).
