[Harp-L] Harmo Torpedo overblowing diatonic harp review (long)

[captron100--- via Harp-L]

The Torpedo harmonica is a product said to be "designed and optimized in the USA" by an excellent harp player who I was unfamiliar with, named David Herzhaft. On this website, you can read about the harp and watch 2 videos that show what a fantastic player he is: http://harmo.com/…/harmo-torpedo-harmonica-c-overblow-setup/ . The harp is mfg'd in China for David's company named Harmo LLC. After reading a short, positive review about them here on Harp-L, I ordered one thru Amazon (free shipping) for $69.90, which is the same price that it sells for on the above website, but without the $7.90 shipping charge. It can also be ordered with free shipping on an online store called Harmonica Land but they force you to first create an account before ordering. I ordered a key of B because it is the only harp key that I don't have in country tuning (5 hole draw raised 1/2 step) and I reasoned that I would retune my old B harp to country tuning after I receive the Torpedo.
I rec'd the harp in the mail yesterday. It looks and feels like a well made harp. It features a sandwich construction (like a Hohner Marine Band; not the style used by the Special 20). It has a black plastic comb with flat tine ends (I prefer raised and rounded tines). It's stainless steel covers, which have no hole numbers, are held on by 2 phillips head screws which are similar to the screw & bolt sleeve that Sydel uses, but without the pain-in-the-ass posidrive screw heads. The harp is about an 1/8th of an inch shorter than a Marine Band and is the same length as my 11 year old plastic combed Seydel Blues Favorite model. Like my Seydel, the Torpedo features brass reeds riveted to stainless steel plates. The reeds are tuned nicely, probably with a engraver tool, right in the center of the reed - no gashes which weaken reeds and cause inevitable reed failure. The harp plays sweetly, with no objectionable beating when playing octaves. The reedplates are held together by 9 stainless steel phillips head self tapping screws. The blow reed plate is engraved with the date 8/6/17 (3 days ago!) and has an engraved unintelligible abbreviation of the person who tweaked the harp (possibly H?). The harp comes with a well made zippered case (which I myself will never use) and has what I assume is a belt loop to enable it to be carried on the hip. The reeds are all waxed at the rivets for increased air tightness (which might be a problem in the hot south Florida sun), and iirc, for increased insurance against OB reed squeal. The harp comes with a 2 year warranty against defects in materials and workmanship but proof of purchase is required.
Now the bad news - Hole 4 draw overblow doesn't work. One side of the reed's free end appears to be tilted so that the gap at the rivet end is slightly higher on one side than the other. For my tastes, the harp is breathy in the lower octave due to some very wide gaps. Holes 5 & 6 OB just fine but holes 7 and 9 overdraws are tough to make work. To be fair, I don't think overdrawing was ever an advertised feature. I confident that with a more careful gapping, I can improve playability. One other concern is that if I ever need to replace a reed, without further research I don't know if my stash of Hohner reeds will match.
Ron - FL Keys

[Robert Hale]

On Wed, Aug 9, 2017 at 11:36 AM, captron100--- via Harp-L <har...@harp-l.org>
wrote:

, right in the center of the reed -

Would that be center of the width? or center of the length?

Thanks

Robert Hale
Serious Honkage in Arizona
youtube.com/DUKEofWAIL
DUKEofWAIL.com

[flyi...@roadrunner.com]

Thanks for the great review Ron!

Dee

[laure...@planetharmonica.com]

Thanks for the interesting review
Looks like this is the chance to evaluate the 3 years warranty. Are
you gonna use it to have the 4o fixed?

[captron100--- via Harp-L]

On Fri, 11 Aug 2017, laure...@planetharmonica.com wrote:
Thanks for the interesting review Looks like this is the chance to evaluate the 3 years warranty. Are you gonna use it to have the 4o fixed?

Reply: The harp is warrantied for 2 years from date of purchase but I'm going to fix it myself rather than go thru the hassle and expense of mailing the harp to the company (Harmo LLC) in Eagle, Idaho.
Also, someone else asked about the placement of the tuning marks. I have not disassembled the harp to inspect the blow reeds and I hope to alter gaps on the blow plate without disassembly. Judging by the bright finish of a newly tuned brass reed, all of the draw reeds have new tuning marks at the rivet ends, and some of the reeds have older tuning marks at the free end of the reeds. This leads me to believe that the harp comes from China pre-tuned but is perfected by the person who optimizes the harp here in the USA.
Ron - FL Keys