How Many Filiskos?
David,
How many Filisko harps do you have, and in what keys?
Steve
Wow that's awesome. What 7 keys do you have in your travel set?
I'm a ways off from destroying expensive custom harps. haha. But out of curiosity, how different are these then say, out of the box Crossovers? I know Joe Filisko doesn't take new orders but where can you get similar ones? One of these days I might fork down some dough for one to see the difference.
-Taylor
Low-F, G, Ab, A, Bb, C and D are the harps I use in my travel set... it's actually rare that I bring my full set for a gig.
I don't play overly loud on my harmonicas, so they last literally forever... all of the harps I'm using (which are the first custom Marine Bands I've used) are from 2005... I just send in about four harps a year to to do a quick tune-up on some of the reeds. THE main reason to play customs is that they're adjusted so well that you don't have to play loudly, which puts less strain on the reeds and makes them last a LOT longer. I've saved a lot of $ over the years.
Crossovers play REALY well... so I don't commonly recommend customs as much these days, but if you have some $ to allocate to your hobby, customs are really nice. The Filisko guild of custom harmonicas can be purchased through customharmonicas.com with Jimmy Gordon, Richard Sleigh and Johnny Bishop.
Sounds good. Thank you David. I got a Crossover for Christmas and after filing down some sharp edges, I'm actually really liking it. It feels much more responsive and has a brighter sound (important for cutting through loud rock bands I think and countering the Bassman tone). They're a bit more expensive than the Lee Oskars but I'm noticing too that I'm starting to play softer. So maybe as these blow out I'll start switching over. The only thing I notice is that MB's seem to be smaller than the Lee Oskars and Seydels I'm used to. I've been putting those as far as I can in my mouth for tone. By the time I tried out the Crossover, there wasn't any room for my hands to hold it so I had to back off!
Sounds like you're on the right track...
20 harmonicas vs 12 chromatic keys? Are you counting backup harmonicas as well? Or
Do you have some harmonicas with an extra tuning?
I have curiosity for that Ab harmonica in your travel set. With that harmonica you can play Eb in second and Bb in third position. Is that your jazzy harmonica?
No, low harps as well... down to Low-A. I use the Ab for playing in 3rd Position Bb... it's a great swing key.
I ran into Deak Harp at one of my gigs and he showed me one of his custom Marine Bands. He has some out to a few major players and the harps look pretty cool. I really didn't want to break away from the $190 dollars so I can't say how they play.
All of my harps Joe makes for me... bless that man! I have a full set of keys (20?) as well as a short travel set (7).