Do I need a custom harmonica?

[@papnevelde]

Hey Lee, nice to have you back again in the world of YT videos!

[@leesankeygroup]

Hey Stevie, I guess with the world on lockdown there's a bit more time for making videos, not much, but a bit more. I'm still producing lessons but put my effort into long form courses on Vimeo like my Timing Skills course from last year.

[@catmanbluz]

right on. Also playing a custom gives you more confidence and gives you a new level of control in subtle ways.

[@leesankeygroup]

Hi Dom, yes that's right, as long as the player's technique is ready for it. You have to be at a certain level to pick up the nuances and subtleties in the reeds to be able to achieve more control. If you are then a custom harp will give you more confidence to go for things.

[@bluesharp9848]

This is the best explanation of the reasoning behind buying a custom harmonica that I have found. Played for 7 years at home. Just want to try to step it up a level if possible. Great that you related the choices to the style of music you want to play. Really appreciated!

[@leenewman9637]

Long time no see Lee ... keep up the good work bro and harp on

[@leesankeygroup]

Hi Lee, I don't post that often, but do now and again. Posted two lessons last week on timing in case you missed them. Thanks for watching.

[@ZvikaDror]

Very good coverage!!! I've seen advocates for customized harps before, but yours is the best IMO. I completely agree with the feel and opening yourself new boundaries when moving into a custom harmonica. In reality, Any harp, including customized one, goes flat at some point, and you will need a replacement, and you'll need additional keys and such, and there is a big waiting list with popular customizers / techs. So when you get intermediate, you gain a few miles of setting your own harps, some stocks are better than others, but eventually you get to a good enough ratio between maintenance / set-up time and what you get in return, which is better harps to play on. Rough numbers say I can get 10 harps, or an entire set, of Marine Bands or alike, at the price of a single Joe Spiers, and I'm not dismissing the fact this single one would be a miraculous beast, I'm just saying - me cannot afford one or more in my collection as I like to have numerous, and set them up in different tunings as well, and I know that if I had one or two Spierses, I will not be able to enjoy the rest so much :) You probably forgot to mention Andrew Zajac from Canada in the comment, an inspiration to try out custom tuning and fixing your own harps, be your own technician, which might not be such a good advise for Cars or Microwaves, but when it comes to harps - you gain more as you do more. Would love to have myself a Spiers, Bouman, Cook, Anderson or Zajac harp when I get older and tired of doing my own customization, but for now - ENVY :) Cheers and happy Passover!

[@leesankeygroup]

Wow thanks for such a detailed comment, an essay even. Thanks for sharing your perspective on some of the points in the video. Budget is a key consideration as you say. You can buy several stock harps for one custom harmonica - so there is a trade off there. A custom harp will also need maintenance at some point too. Once you play a custom harp and then pick up a stock harp that is not set-up it you are filled with a sense of disappointment. It's great you have learned to work on your harps to improve them. I'll be interested to make of a harmonica from Spiers, Bouman, Cook etc when you try one. Will the difference be as big between the ones you set up yourself? Thanks again for your thoughtful conments, Lee

[@ZvikaDror]

@@leesankeygroup Actually, I need a few more years and true dedication to become a customize"r", even for my own harps. When I fix something, I fix a problem, be it a hard time to overblow or overdraw some hole, be it a defect in the harp, be it air tightness, equalizing the air pressure across the range or fine-tuning to get a better "feel" on the base harmonies, or getting it to EQ for solos. But the true reason I started doing "stuff" to harps was curiosity and availability of cheap harps you can mess up and not regret. Custom tunings are very close to my heart and players around the globe got me inspired to try as many tunings I can get for finding new colours on the harmonice which are not available on Richter or "standard" alternative tunings OOTB. Love your videos, each one is focused, dedicated and inspiring! Cheers

[@sjotmagneto]

Hi Lee, like always you explain things as they are ..... the good and the bad things i’m an beginning intermediate player and i tried some different harps “out of the box” and personally there is a great difference between let’s say a honher special 20 and a honher crossover and also from brand to brand like honher, lee oskar, seydel and there is definitely a difference between them and also the material of the comb, wood ore plastic ore metal.

[@leesankeygroup]

Hey Henk, it's great you have experimented with different harps. That's the way to discover what works for you. There are differences between the brands, models in how they sound and what they are like to play. And maybe in the end, you might want to play a few different models or brands. If you are just starting out I'd recommend trying a few different harmonicas to see which comb material works for you and what sound you like. Cheers, Lee

[@TonyAlloa]

Marine band, brings back memories. Soak for a few hours and cut off the overhang of the combs. Last about 6 month's lol ended up with a cross harp

[@leesankeygroup]

I never soaked my Marine Bands, just dealt with the swelling. But they haven't done that for a long time. Personally, they remain my favourite sounding harmonica, even though I play mostly Crossovers these days. Lee

[@TonyAlloa]

@@leesankeygroup ditto, good sir 👍

[@landztranz]

@@leesankeygroup Gr8 vid! Gussow also loves Marine Bands. My question is is there a huge difference between the regular Marine Band and the Deluxe version?

[@davebell7348]

Thanks Lee, For a very informative and in depth response, much appreciated, we have met before at the Brighton harmonica course, where I made the biggest mistake by not sitting in one of your lectures, never mind we can't turn the clock back, but I'll be in the front of the queue if the opportunity should arise again!!! Stay safe until then, Mr Lamb sends his best wishes, Davy

[@leesankeygroup]

Hi Dave, I'm uploading a follow up video inspired by your questions later today - how to choose a custom harmonica. I am hosting a workshop in Amsterdam in November. Come along if you fancy a trip to that beautiful city. Hopefully we will be able to travel by then. Lee

[@davebell7348]

@@leesankeygroup Hello Lee, thanks once again for your response to all my questions and the information you have given. As I said in my first text I have played for a long time and dedicated a fair bit of my time to playing the harmonica on and off hitting many brick walls on the way.My level of commitment has been beyond the call of duty when I actually sold my car went to the states to follow William Clarke around for a month after contacting his agent in 1997.A time in my life that money can't buy, he died shortly after that and I managed to raise $3000 for his wife Jeanette and his family with the help of Paul Lamb, many North East musicians and blues fans. I also take my hat off to you, for your level of commitment to the harmonica, the KZbin channel which I obviously now subscribe too and of course your CDs which I do have, with monkey Lips being one of my all time favourites .I would love to have been able to follow you abroad, but I'm now In my 60's and don't even have a passport ! Nevertheless i will catch up to you somewhere in the UK if you can pass on you're information and definitely will buy a custom built harmonica on your advice and look forward to seeing the next article on KZbin many thanks again, looking forward to any other correspondence, Davy

[@vincenzogiambusso]

I'm so glad to see you again!! I'm starting to think this virus brought also something good! Cheers from Italy! Take care!

[@leesankeygroup]

Hi Vincenzo, thanks for checking out my channel again. I do post, but not that often. Most of the lessons are make are for my Vimeo courses. Lee

[@davebell7348]

Hello Lee, Absolutely fantastic subject, and KZbin channel I've been playing for 30years + and never had a customized harmonica. The questions I would like to ask are does it matter if the comb is plastic or wood and do you actually tell the harmonica technician how you want it set up or how you actually play. I would also like to ask if you if could recommend a basic or a beginner's guide to music theory based on the harmonica, many Thanks Davy

[@leesankeygroup]

Hi Dave, thanks for watching. If you have been playing for 30 years I think you would really enjoy owning a custom harmonica. Worth getting one just for the experience. I think you'll be surprised. Now your questions. 1) Comb. This is personal preference. If you prefer a plastic comb say like on a Hohner Special 20, get a customised Special 20. If you prefer wood, like the Marine Band, get a custom Marine Band etc. What you will find is certain customisers will specialise in certain brands or models. That, along with budget and delivery time, will help you chose the customiser. Quite a few customisers, offer their own combs, it's of a good choice to get one of these. 2) The next thing to consider is the level of customisation. Again different builders offer different levels of customisation and the price varies accordingly. For example Level 1 will typically focus on air tightness and tuning. Level 2 will introduce some reed gapping for overblows. Level 3 will introduce more gapping work for overblows and overdraws - normally in the high and low register. It is definitely a good idea to have a conversation with your builder about your playing style. Thanks for these questions I will post a follow video to share these thoughts more widely. Regarding music theory for harmonica players. I imagine this has been well covered on KZbin right? Take a look a Tomlin Leckie or Adam Gussow or Ronnie Shellist. They probably have something on this. If not let me know. I could build a course around this in future if it hasn't been covered. Thanks, Lee

[@MrSpanky2001]

The custom tunings require a different blow/draw pattern (in areas) and this can take some adjustment by the player. Isn't that correct? It can 'throw you off' till you get used to it. I've tinkered (for seconds) with an alternate tuned harp and did'nt much care for it.

[@leesankeygroup]

Yes playing alternative tunings requires learning new patterns. I see that as 100% healthy. If you played the saxophone or piano you would need much, much deeper knowledge to make music. You need to know the notes to play in different keys etc. The diatonic harmonica can make people complacent about learning new things. It's personal choice of course, but in my view learning to play alternative tunings will help you grow musically and are worth the effort. Some people may chose to stay in their comfort zone, that's fine too. But you wouldn't be able to do that on the violin, trumpet etc.

[@thBrilliantFool]

I don't know if this is true but I heard Lee Oskar introduced his line of harmonicas because the Hohner assembly line was suffering in the quality control department so the only harmonicas that were worth buying in the 80s and 90s were Lee Oskars. Meanwhile the Seydel company was defunct and weren't producing any harmonicas during that time period. No idea what Suzuki harmonicas was doing during those years. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I didn't start playing the harp until almost 10 years ago.

[@leesankeygroup]

I don't have the exact history here for these companies. The Lee Oskar story sounds more than plausible. Seydel was resurrected as a brand and from its relaunch the focus was on quality. I'm not aware of Seydel going through a bad quality patch like Hohner so obviously did. Hohner picked up it's game when it started working with people like Steve Baker and Joe Filisko. Their harps are excellent these days. Cheers, Lee

[@thBrilliantFool]

So do you consider harps with alternative tunings to be "custom harps" even if they're not set up to do overblows and overdraws? Sometimes these tunings are designed so that those kind of advanced techniques aren't necessary to play those more difficult to hit notes.

[@leesankeygroup]

Hey, good question. I don't consider alternative tunings custom harps per say in this context. In other words the tuning in of itself doesn't make them custom. You can buy them as stock harps. BUT you can then customise an alternate tuned harmonica to improve it's performance. So in that sense, they are, like richter tuned harps, that they may or may not be customised. I mention them here as an alternative for opening creative avenues to learning to overblow and overdraw. Thanks, Lee

[@thBrilliantFool]

@@leesankeygroup thanks. I have devised my own tunings and ordered some of them from Seydel Custom Shop via the Seydel Harp Configurator. I haven't set them up to do overblows as with my tunings they aren't necessary. I have also ordered a brass comb from Blue Moon Harmonicas so I have unique harps in my own custom tunings but never had a harmonica customizer work on one. Don't know if these would be considered "custom harps" but they're definitely one of a kind.

[@camcook7241]

I just want one that dont pull my mustache hairs !!