Hi, Rob, some thoughts for a bedridden harp pal; after your great post on instrument maintenance. I have a dozen or so assorted Herings; very good harps, with an occasional windsaver buzz, but never the less very good, and extremely responsive harps. I also have 7 Hohners; much less responsive; but the sound quality - considering my background in listening - Stevie & Toots - is much more my preferred sound - warm, full, gentle, strong..... Two things Iīd like to talk about: 1. Tuning. I had a session recently; I played a lot of guitar ( my professional instrument ), but I also did some harp fills and solos. ..my first professional harp session...:-)... Now, my Herings are responsive like I canīt ask for more; but the tuning turned out to be a problem: seems like theyīre tuned a bit high ( 442-4) I guess to compensate for loud, blues-type playing; and combined with the extreme projection these harps have; it turned out I couldnīt use them on the session... Luckily I had two Hohner Toots; a HardBopper & a MellowTone, recently customized by Bill Romel. Those harps, especially the MellowTone recorded perfectly; tuning no problem; the setting was very soft drums (brushes), acoustic double bass, acoustic nylon guitar, vocal, and harmonica. All very unplugged, and so the harp sounded best without any wailing; actually very mp soft embouchure... Bill Romel tuned the MellowTone to 440, which meant I could play the parts mezzopiano and the harp was in tune.... I could have used the Herings; but that would have meant me bending each note just a little bit; or (and) "wailing" all along, which would not have suited the music at all. The songs were very low-key "nursery rhyme" like.... ..and Iīm not that good a harmonica player, yet....though I remember Toots impressed me royally, tuning wise, on a record we made in the -80īs, his harp wasnīt at all in tune on the sound check; but when the tape was running - he was 100% in tune....I mean like Toots pitched each reed, while playing, on the red light, .....!.......purely by embouchure.....! I know that some of you guys can do that,......well, I canīt!.....just a little bit.....:-) On this session the Romel-Hohners saved my life; not only by their good sound & egality, but also īcause the tunings were so accurate... My first thought: Iīd better tune all my harps to 440. But, then Iīd be in trouble next time, if Iīm doing loud stuff....! So, I guess the answer for me is to have some harps in 440, and some in 442, and some in 444, and maybe someday all my harps could be tuned to 444 and Iīd fix it all with my incredible chops....(five year project)....:-) All my harps are on the kitchen table regularly; some (half) of them are bebop tuned; but theyīre all fine-tuned by me; but Iīm sometimes in doubt; if I take my favorite harp ( Romel Mellowtone ) how should I pitch it; Bill Romel pitched it 440; havenīt touched it yet; donīt want to; thatīs OK for a jam session or studio work; but all the symphony orchestras and radio studios tune 442 or higher; string sections always go up for brightness; and since you canīt get a reed to bend upwards, maybe itīs better to tune it a bit higher, and then learn that Toots embouchure trick....? ...if possible....a bit like Brasshaīpers "always on the bending edge"... ..but, I donīt know... ...on the chromatic thereīs no way to pitch upwards, is there....? How about a completely tight Renny; remove the valves ( windsavers ); and have complete freedom; howīs that for a sales pitch? (Doug T, any chance for a rebate?)..:-) But, you still couldnīt bend upwards, could you? Maybe itīs time for us chromatic fanatics to benefit from OBīers; give us a harp where each reed is responding to your every whim...! ...Up or down.... 2. Blackie sez: donīt complain....and he is so right... I bought a Hohner Larry Adler; returned it twice; hopeless harmonica; most notes werenīt there....six months later I replaced the mouthpiece with a Hering mpc; just for fun; the harp improved 10.000%....... Well, Parker played on whatever alto was available; did some macho stuff with his reed; Miles played the same mouthpiece from age 16 ītil the day he died; mysteriously gone, now...Jaco played a Fender bass with no extras; actually took all the frets off; Wes insisted on playing with his thumb; any guitar teacher would have told him heīs crazy; all the major heroes seems to have made some crazy move, and still they made everlasting music.... Toots didnīt even play a "Toots" on the session I played with him..... ...he played a straight chromonica 270....and sounding like magic.... Rob, get well, hope your well enough to play the harp; itīs a great place to play - in bed - but, still,..... regards Bjarne
