out of the box?
I am not at the point of custom harps, but do like to have them tuned as close as possible. I have used Lee Oskar, Marine Band, Hering 1923, Bushman, and Special 20 with the Special 20 being the one I came to like best. During a conversation I was having with Rod Piazza he mentioned that he thought the Hering Blues Harp came as close to being tuned right coming out of the box as anything he has ever used. I know Rod has a special relationship with Hering, but have found him to always be very straight with me. Since I am at the point of having to order some harps , I thought I might get some feedback before I trying something that might not be as pleasing as the Special 20.
Thank you so much for the detailed info. It will take some time to absorb the info, but it will really help. I am always amazed at the amount of effort you put into your responses to those of us who are struggling along with this sometimes frustrating, but wonderful little instrument. Thank you so much!
"Tuned right" is a subjective call. Tuning is always a compromise, and the best compromise will give you what you need to play in a specific circumstance.
For instance, the Marine Bands of 60 years ago had a Draw 5 that sounded verrry flat when it was played as a melody note. But it sounded great in a chord. Several other notes were tuned higher or lower than standard pitch for the same reason - Blow 2, 5, and 8, and Draw 3 and 7 were tuned flat, while Blow 3, 6, and 9, and Draw 1, 4, and 8 were tuned slightly sharp. This sounds great for Chicago Blues and for folk music.
Changing the fine tuning of notes is called "temperament." The temperament once used on old Marine Marine Bands is called Just Intonation, which is based on simple ratios (1:2, 1:3, 1;4, etc,) that you would use on something like a guitar string. There are several flavors of just with different "limits" indicating how far you want to go in ratios. The old Marine Bands, I think used 7-limit Just (i.e, 1:7 was the largest ratio used to determine the pitch of a note in the scale.)
On the other hand, if you're playing jazz or music that moves through several scales or keys, those Just-tempered notes can sound out of tune, so harps like the Golden Melody are tuned just like they are on the piano, to something called Equal Temperament. Instead of being based on simple ratios, Equal Temperament uses mathematical formulas to determine pitch ratios. Wisecrackers say it puts everything equally out of tune.
In between Equal Temperament and Just there are several different "compromise" temperaments that people dream up.
One thing you could do is to find out:
1) What temperament is used in Special 20 harps.
2) What temperament is used in the Hering Rod Piazza model.
If he two are the same, then you have your answer. If they different, chances are that both are either some flavor of Just, or compromise based on Just.
Here's an article on temperament in the Special 20 by Hohner technician Sissi Jones:
http://www.hohnerusa.com/index.php?1877
Here's a review by Pat Missin of the Rod Piazza mode which Pat says is in 7-llimit Just:
http://www.patmissin.com/reviews/hering4.html
Hope this helps.