Post by jbone on Aug 11, 2019 6:05:55 GMT -5
To start, there is a big difference in what harp works well in what venue. In recent years I got away from loud 4 piece band work and moved into duo stuff more. This entailed more acoustic open air work, street corner and farmers market. Many years previous I hung out at campfires and played some in that setting, but actual in-public playing acoustic was fairly new to me some 13 years ago. I'd worked in a few duos briefly in the 90's but we were always amped.
So I discovered quickly that most harps sounded good out live, but their lives were shorter because one tends to play louder outdoors, especially if there is ambient noise like traffic, patrons chatting, vendors calling to each other. I was barely supporting my harp habit with busking for a while!
Some 6 or 7 years ago, Suzuki rolled out its Manji model. Phosphor bronze braised reeds, solid wood/resin composite comb, vented cover plates, all made it a louder harp. Given it had a sort of raspy tone, still it was what I wanted for street type performance. Volume was maybe 20% better than say a Special 20 or Bushman Delta Frost. That's a big jump.
I bought one to try and liked them enough to put a set together for what I needed. I skipped some keys which we never play in and added a few low tuned Manji's as well.
My kit has usually been made up of several makes and model harps and today is no exception. BUT I try and keep the Manji's mostly for open air work. They do outlast at least some other harps when doing a bit more strenuous playing. And with replaceable reed plates- and also fairly inexpensive reed replacement by some good tech guys- they have proven to be effective sound-wise and less expensive in the long run.
Yesterday I took 6 Manji's out to the market, A, Bb, C, D, F, and G. Also one old Hohner Special 20 just to try. The Manji's did what they always have done, put more sound out front!
Just a quick review of one make and model in one setting.
So I discovered quickly that most harps sounded good out live, but their lives were shorter because one tends to play louder outdoors, especially if there is ambient noise like traffic, patrons chatting, vendors calling to each other. I was barely supporting my harp habit with busking for a while!
Some 6 or 7 years ago, Suzuki rolled out its Manji model. Phosphor bronze braised reeds, solid wood/resin composite comb, vented cover plates, all made it a louder harp. Given it had a sort of raspy tone, still it was what I wanted for street type performance. Volume was maybe 20% better than say a Special 20 or Bushman Delta Frost. That's a big jump.
I bought one to try and liked them enough to put a set together for what I needed. I skipped some keys which we never play in and added a few low tuned Manji's as well.
My kit has usually been made up of several makes and model harps and today is no exception. BUT I try and keep the Manji's mostly for open air work. They do outlast at least some other harps when doing a bit more strenuous playing. And with replaceable reed plates- and also fairly inexpensive reed replacement by some good tech guys- they have proven to be effective sound-wise and less expensive in the long run.
Yesterday I took 6 Manji's out to the market, A, Bb, C, D, F, and G. Also one old Hohner Special 20 just to try. The Manji's did what they always have done, put more sound out front!
Just a quick review of one make and model in one setting.