My Seydel 1847 Classic Review

So I was facing a dilemma last week as I planned on buying a new harp. I needed a way to decide which harp and which key. One option was to buy another MS blues in a key I don’t have which I had in mind to play around with a low F, but it turns out that there are no MS blues in the key of low F. So it left me with my other option that was to by a relatively expensive harp so I can decide for my self it it is worth it.

I eventually bought a Seydel 1847, in the key of C, so I could compare it to my MS blues harp in the key of C. After five days of hard waiting for my harp to arrive by mail, I finely got it. Unwrapping the harp was a very existing moment, although it always looks like someone sent me a toy instead of a real instrument. In all the harp pictures you see a zoomed in picture of the harp showing it in all it’s details, but when you open your harp, you realize you bought a very small instrument. When you are paying for an harp 3 times you pay for another harp, you have allot of expectations.

My first 5 minutes with the harp was disappointing, while the harp did overblow out of the box, it was very leaky, not just overblows but the entire harp. So I opened the harp tweaked the gapping and arcing of all the reads. The lower reads were all too wide which caused most of the air leaking and where not arched. I always try to close all reads as much as possible and to do that with still maintaining a responsive note you have to arch the read.

Now after five more minutes playing on the tweaked harp, I was totally hooked. The overblows are soft and easy to the point that the great Alex Paclin (also using Seydel 1847 classic) suddenly looks like an ordinary human. The wood of the harp holes is polished and rounded which helps allot when you are doing fast licks. The holes are wider and rounded which feels really good when playing. The harp is thick, which forces you to open your mouth and that produces a very clean fat note. The harp is so air right that I can play real soft to the point almost no air is used. With a slightly more effort I can pop in very soft overblows.

At one point I did contemplated the idea that the harp is good, but my customizing skills have improved so much that I make it much better cause to tell the truth, out of the box it was crappy. I did hear a review here and there which do say that this is an excellent harp, but all of them are not what I expected after experiencing the harp for my self.

I feel that in the 4 days I have used this harp, my technique has improved dramatically. I am playing tunes which really heavily on overblows. Using overblows not just as a passing notes, but as a substantial part of the tune with vibration and even repetitive attacks. I am playing really fast licks with bent notes which feels like I am hardly moving my tongue. For the first time I am starting to have a play by ear map of the harp, which include overblow notes. When I play tunes in different positions, I am starting to feel that I get to the overblows if needed without thinking. I really think that I will have a very hard time playing with any other harp I have.

Compared to my other harps it really feels like the difference between an instrument and a toy. I guess when you pay peanuts you really get monkeys… So that leads me to the decision that from this point on all my harps are going to be Seydel 1847 classic… Paying 60$ on a harp instead of 20$, really does make a difference.

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