Kongsheng Lyra and Boogie-Man
Winslow:
I really enjoyed your review of Kongsheng's Lyra and KB-12 Boogie-Man chromatics in SPAH's latest Harmonica Happenings.
I have two C KB-12s that I picked up at early bargain prices. Figured one for the car's glove compartment, and one to replace that one if I lost it. But I quickly discovered that the KB-12 is a really nice harmonica. It's now a regular in my jam kit. (My go-to of the two is the one that's "toothpaste green," the color of which always elicits comments from the other folks in the band.)
"Big Harp George" Bisharat was an early adopter of the KB-12, and used it on some cuts on his latest CD.
One thing you didn't talk about in the review, and that I'd love to know your thoughts about: The KB-12's intonation. For the extremely modest price, one doesn't get perfect intonation. With the result being a great William Clarke-style "shimmer" on high octaves. E.g., one gets the sound of a 270 played for decades ... without having to actually play the harp for decades. Works perfectly for blues, tho' I imagine one would want to work on the reeds before using the KB-12 to play the Villa Lobos concerto with a symphony orchestra.
Hope someday to pick up one of the Lyras.
Both of my KB-12s are Cs. I mentioned the "toothpaste green" one. The other is the ivory color. The thought of displaying what I had for dinner in one of the clear ones wasn't attractive to me.
Tuning on both is pretty good, and pretty much exactly the same. Solid in the lower register, with issues just in the highest three holes. But for blues, I don't think I'm going to work on re-tuning. I actually like that "shimmer" effect when the octave is just a teeny bit off.
I don't know how Kongsheng is able to make such at nice harp at such a low price, but I'm glad they do.
Hi, Rob, and sorry to take so long replying. The one I have is in A and, as I recall, the intonation was decent (been awhile since I played it as I've been busy with other projects). Harmonicas can vary a lot even within the same batch of the same model, and trueing it up if needed is part of how I approach new instruments. How do yo find the ones you have?