So the first thread I started about this topic left me little bit sad. I was insulted there just because I shared my experience on this topic. So I'll try again.
First of all, about my experiences as a harp player & harp customizer (so that nobody has a false idea about that):
I've been playing harp for 3 years, 2 years in a band where I also started singing. You can see some gigs of ours from the Youtube links below and some demo songs from the myspace links. I learned OB's about year and a half ago with the help of overblow.com and contacted Chris Michalek alias Buddha immediately after that as I wanted to buy some tools from him. We made a business agreement that he would make me tools AND teach how to use those. His precise wording was that "he would teach me everything he knows about harp building - no secrets". After learning the OB's I've been practicing more classical pieces, jazz and world music than blues - I just like many kinds of music. (Although in a sense of gigging it would be better to invest more time to blues as the other genres I play mostly just for fun at my home.) I was a member at Howard Levy's harmonica school for more than a year but then I ran out of time, it's a good place to get world class teaching and lots of different songs from extremely wide range of music.
Now about the experiences I have from custom harps:
Since I got the tools and lessons from Chris I've been customizing my own harps. I reviewed my work with Chris in Skype sessions, chats and email exchanges and got to the level where the OB's were really easy to get with the harps and the overall playability was good (bends good, no sticking). I also ordered a Buddha harp (C) from him as a reference, but it took more than a year to actually get it because of some problems with post offices and customs. I also ordered a second harp (D) that was originally made for Ricci. In the mean time I ordered and got a harp (A) from some other recognized customizer.
My conclusions of the custom harps:
(First of all, I do understand that I don't have the skills to really use all the potential of great custom harps. I also know that it would be insane to say that people like Howard don't benefit from good custom harps. BUT it is also illogical to say that I don't have enough skills to talk about custom harps. I mean there are lots of people here in the forum that are about the same skill level as I am and who are wondering about buying custom harps. For them sharing my experiences could be really valuable - I can't see how anybody with a straight mind could question that?)
Playing first my own harps which I made with a modest skills (although with a help of good teacher), I was expecting from pro customizers to have harps that would explode my mind with the playability they have.. :) Well, the truth is that I was disappointed. The first custom I received I sent back. The OB's were horrible to get and compared to my own harps, the harp leaked. I won't mention who the customizer was as I'm sure that it was more about my expectation level than the harp itself. Well, at first I thought it was the customizer and still looked forward to have my Buddha harps. Then when I received them I was disappointed again. The tuning and responsiveness of the harps was really good, but the OB's weren't easy to get. I couldn't even get the 1 OB and also OD's were really hard. We talked about it with Chris and he thought that perhaps the resonance point of our anatomy was different and that was the reason the OB's weren't optimum for me. We scheduled some Skype meetings about it, but then he was gone and we never got to meet. (Of course the sending harps back and forth wasn't an option as the posting lasted several months..)
So my experiences and conclusions are as follows:
It is quite easy to customize your harp to the level where OB's are easy and the overall playability is good - provided that you have the right tools and information on how to use those. I'm sure the professional customizers can make better job, but my own experience shows me that the difference isn't huge even with the little experience I have about customizing. (Although I'm engineer as a profession so it might be that I learn these things faster.)
So at least for a person at my skill level, the custom harps don't seem to add much value compared to things you could do yourself in 1-2 hour. (In fact I noticed on our last gig that the Buddha harps will get stuck more easily on stage with more adrenaline in the playing so I won't be using those on stage anymore). For more advanced people? - well I guess they already know what they need and want and thus aren't reading MBH to learn about these things.
But don't take my word about it. In few months I plan to reveal all the techniques and tools I got from Chris so that you can try these things out yourself. I have no intention to make any money with that information as playing harp is just a hobby for me. I do it because it's fun and because I love music. This is why I even bother writing here on this forum, for fun. But it really makes me sad to see how seriously people take these things sometimes..
Lighten up folks! I'm sure every single one of us started playing harp to have fun - don't forget the basic foundation for all of this! :)
I, for one, look forward eagerly to future posts and hopefully videos on the tools and techniques learned from Buddha.
I find it suprising that you were insulted by members of the forum regarding a post on this subject as I found this post to be honest in its appraisal of custom harps you had purchased and very interesting.
I think your closing line says it all. I started playing music for fun and still do for the same reason, in fact I reckon it's the best fun you'll ever have with your clothes on.
Take no notice of the knockers, they need to get a life.
"So the first thread I started about this topic left me little bit sad. I was insulted there just because I shared my experience on this topic. So I'll try again."
Hmmm I'm more than a little confused. I didn't see anybody insulting you on that thread. What I did see however were some people who agreed that custom harps are not for them and some that thought custom harps were the best thing since sliced bread.
The only other thing that I saw in that thread was Joe Spiers comment "I didn't listen to all your videos, but I did make it through 5 of them. I agree that you should be spending your time practicing instead of worrying about custom harmonicas." Which was simply solid, practical advice from a guy who really knows how to play great harp as well as build some of the finest custom harps out there.
''I was expecting from pro customizers to have harps that would explode my mind with the playability they have ''
This statement from you puts in one short sentance everything that has gone through my mind in reading these posts and reveals the big problem.
Until the internet people around the world would know little about custom harps, what other players sed and what they did. people just worked and worked and put in the hours and got what they wanted from the harps they had.
No doubt custom harps help, i have never played one so do not know, but niether do i feel it is the thing limiting what i want to do.
It seems to me absurd that after a couple of years playing it is a custom harp whiich is the way to better playing. i believe it is not. It is a crutch, something to rely on and now something else to blame.
it seems to me like you are saying even with a custom harp you are disapointed with your playing.
Maybe its your playing. the hours spent tweaking, should they be spent playing may well be better spent.
apskarp, don't be insulted by the comments. It's the internet.... However, I understand where you're coming from. The other thread wasn't too nice. Too many customizers talking in a thread that was contextually directed towards 'hobby'-customizers (and the usual online miscommunication..) and then the pro cons of customs, which wasn't the subject of the thread either. don't bother.
I thought your posts were very informative. And I like your engineer style of structuring thoughts. Very much looking forward to that info. Cheers.
At a time when i had been playing harp for 3 years, I would not have been able to fully appreciate or get good utility out of custom harps. Now, i didn't OB then and I don't OB now. But overall, my technique and general skill level was not sufficiently well developed that I would have gotten much out of upgrading to custom instruments at that stage of my development. And I certainly would not have been qualified to evaluate one.
I'm just talking about myself here. Your situation may be different.
Last Edited by on Jan 16, 2011 7:16 AM
Maybe your playing skill level will not (at this time) allow you to fully appreciate the benefits of playing a super level custom harp. Neither are mine and Ive been playing 10x longer than you.But I dont think that means you shouldnt go right ahead and build one. This aint rocket science. Comb, plate, reeds, rivets, fastners and coverplates
An analogy? Lets say you are an average driver and drive an older vehicle.You can comfortably drive at a speed of 80mph. You (or someonelse) soups it up into a race car. Right from the start your doing 100mph thru the curves,sweet! It'll do 150 ,but you cant. Who cares!.Each time you take it out on the track you increase your laptime. And you may not need all that speed and handling to go to the supermarket but you do get there faster, its a fun ride now and everybody can hear that engine roar down the block. And you look way cool behind the wheel all the girls want to ride w/ you.;).
@yogi I'm curious as to why you think a custom harp is a crutch. It doesn't play for you, it just makes playing what you want to play easier... I wouldn't call that a crutch, I would just call that a better instrument. Really it comes down to the music, and if the instrument assists you in making that music, then I can't imagine how that would be a negative thing.
Thank's GermanHarpist, you are right - why bother. Just some egos were hurt, no real damage done.
I fully understand that my playing skills aren't such that I could utilize the full potential of high-end custom harps. But the truth is that the advertisement has been such that "buying a custom will make you a better player, OB's will become a lot easier, etc". Now perhaps those statements are true, e.g. the OB's are simply impossible if the gaps are too wide etc. This is trivial knowledge.
But what I'm trying to do here is to share my own experiences on the matter so that somebody else can take advantage of those. Of course I'm not intending my posts to pro players - why would they be reading these posts when they already know what they need and want?
This forum has lots of people that are learning to play harp from Adam's videos. It means that they are just starting to play harp or then they are like me, with just a couple of years experience. For them my experiences might be valuable. What I'm basically saying is that custom harps aren't that different, I think I won't ever be spending another 150$ or more to get a custom harp as the key elements of playability are pretty easy to achieve with a few basic tools and couple of hours of time to learn how to use them:
"Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime."
I was surprised, thought that Joe's behavior was so rude on the other thread as I can't think of how my opinions would be a threat to his business. Afterwards I understood that he was actually pissed about Adam, whose video I just happened to mention on that thread (without even remembering it was Joe's custom harp he was referring to.) So Joe just took it on me. It happens. Like he said himself: "Everyone has some evil in them, I'm sorry. That's the blues. I usually don't let it out. But I didn't mean to be insulting. I'm a supportive guy, honestly."
I was just pissed off because he referred to my video just as a proof that I'm not a good harpist (yet). I mean the song was written and composed by me, it told stories of my life, it was from a beautiful gig we had where the audience really liked the show and all that. All that was ignored and only the harp solo was took as an object of proof that I should not talk about custom harps. (And the feedback wasn't even constructive in any ways..) :) Well, that's the blues I suppose. But the ego heals fast as it's just an illusion.. ;)
Explaing myeslf, now thats going to test me. I'll try.
I think, reading my post, i was trying to expain my thoughts about the postings of apskarp. Not particularly custom harps in general although i see that my comments make it read that way. It was the statement of disapointmet that the custom harps did not offer instant satisfaction or gratification.
I suppose the comment ;
''I was expecting from pro customizers to have harps that would explode my mind with the playability they have ''
made by apskarp just made me think maybe he was expecting something that was not there to be expected. Kind of like players who go from a small , inexpensive amp to paying thousands for an original bassman and then being disapointed that it doesnt make them sound like they thought they would.
I am sure that custom harps do make a differnce, allow players to do things they want the way they want. As i said I have nevr played one so I am not talking from experience on that front.
But, and this may seem offensive, i really dont mean it too and it is not a personal statement aimed at anyone, I am reminded of something one of my early instructors told me.
@yogi definitely, when you say it that way I'm inclined to agree.
Similar situation, I've been a professional caricaturist for several years, and this past summer I tried to start up my own little caricature group with some artist friends. I would have to teach them from scratch, as none of them had ever done it before. We didn't have much money, so we bought the cheapest supplies we could. We were all very frustrated by them. Then we finally had enough money to buy nice markers and paper. My drawings improved 10x, but the newbies made little improvement with the nicer materials.
So I guess moral of the story is the nicer gear will make a difference if you know how to take advantage of them. A harmonica is a harmonica if it costs $15 or $150. 10 holes, 20 reeds, and then you need to make music with it. They don't play themselves.
That said, I am painfully curious about what it's like to play a custom. I just got offered a fairly nice job, so maybe I can treat myself when the summer comes round. I'm also waiting on a B-Rad, we'll see when that one comes.
Yogi & jonlaing, you are definitely right. It's just my unrealistic beliefs that buying better instruments would magically make me learn all the scales, riffs and licks and hit them with inhumane speed and accuracy. I'm just frustrated that it didn't happen, but the custom harps are awesome and you would do good to purchase as many of them as you can afford. The more expensive ones you can find, the better.
In the meanwhile I will purchase some dead chickens, voodoo amulets and dried elephant testicles. Perhaps those will do the trick. I'll let you know.. ;DD
ps.
If you are not able to find expensive enough customs, I have one very rare one that has the reeds worked with nail polish AND Lysergic Acid Diethylamide. It will make even total beginner to play like Paganini in just five minutes (with some other super powers as well).. I can sell it for 850$, special offer only for you my friend. ;)
