Today I received my Joe Spiers Stage 1 tuned Marine Band with Pearwood Comb so I thought I’d share some very initial thoughts after playing it for about an hour and please bear in mind I’ve only been playing for about five months so these are observations from a relative beginner rather than an expert.
Firstly what’s the ordering process like for an overseas customer (I’m in the UK)? Well I’m pleased to say its relatively simple. An email to Joe with your requirements will get you a quick response confirming you’ve been put on the waiting list (current wait time is about six weeks) and then when its ready you’ll get a paypal invoice and once paid its shipped out. My harp arrived about a week after paying. Previously I’ve bought Arkia Signatures and these do arrive a lot faster for UK customers as they come from France but six weeks is a reasonable time.
So first off: Looks (always important).
I really like Luke’s Spiers harmonicas with the Todd Parrott combs but I just went for the standard Pearwood comb. In hindsight I wish I’d gone for a Todd Parrott comb, I’m a bit of a magpie and like bright colourful things but with the Pearwood comb it just looks like a standard Marine Band deluxe. It seemed like a faff dealing with Todd to find out what combs he had, then paying for one and getting him to send it to Joe etc, all via email. It’s probably easier for US customers who can just phone to arrange these things. I dunno, If I buy another Joe Spiers I’ll probably make the effort. The only thing that would tell anyone this isn’t a standard Marine Band is a discreet date and signature engraved on the top reed plate (see second picture).
Responsiveness. My initial thoughts are that this is the most responsive of all my harps but I’ve not had time to compare it to other harps in A/B tests yet.
Sound. This has a real throaty blues sound that I really like (but then it is a Marine Band). I’m surprised that it sounds so different (and much louder) than my Arkia Signatures as these have Crossover reed plates and I would have expected them to sound very similar
Value for money.
This is a tricky question to answer. I paid (with international shipping) $235 (£180). $45 of that was postage. Without the postage it would be $190 (£145) and a standard Marine Band Deluxe from Hohner in the UK costs about £45 so you are basically paying Joe £100 to do the customisation work. As a small businessman myself I don’t baulk at paying a craftsman for his time but the thorny question is: Can my abilities extract the full benefit of Joe’s work?
The answer is probably no, not at the moment. One of the things I’d hoped before I bought my first Arkia, is that they would be easier to bend. They aren’t and neither is the Joe Spiers. Once I can bend consistently in tune I’ll probably appreciate the bendability of these harps more but currently whilst I’m still trying to perfect that technique I’d say they are no easier to bend than say, a Hohner Rocket. What both the Arkia and the Spiers should do is give me the confidence to know that if something doesn’t sound right it’s me, not the harp. I liken my Arkias and Joe Spiers harp to higher end guitars. For years I played a £500 Epiphone Les Paul and then a few years ago I finally spent £2500 on a Gibson Les Paul . Is the Gibson five times better than the Epiphone? No it’s about 5% better and mostly I still play my Epiphone but there is an indescribable feeling in getting that Gibson out of it’s case. If you want that feeling with your harps and can afford it, go for it. If you can’t, no worries. A Hohner rocket is probably 95% as good.
