Dont see alot of love for Suzuki harps… Their Hammond brand are beautiful sounding harmonicas
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Yes I have a Suzuki Hammond and it’s my favorite of their harmonicas. I don’t care for the Folkmaster, and I’m not in love with the BluesMaster, ProMaster, or even Manji. But everyone is different! Brandon Bailey LOVES Suzuki’s!
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My case holds 19 harmonicas, all Suzuki Manji’s. They’re great for sound, materials, and air tightness. I moved over to them ten years ago. I prefer them to the Hohner Crossover, its closest rival.
I think many players buy what’s on the shelves - Hohner, Lee Oscar, etc. Like Seydel, Herring, etc. Suzukis are better known online than in stores… I want to offer a little love for Suzukis
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I’m getting my first Suzuki in a few days. I’ll give an update when I get it. It’s gonna be a Suzuki Bluesmaster in Bb.
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Great!! I think you will probably enjoy it. One of my favorite harps is actually a Bluesmaster (key of C) that I easily converted into a “Todd Parrott” harp. Sounds and plays very well!
Regards,
– Slim 
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Hello @Slim,
How did you convert the Suzuki to a “Todd Parrott”? Is it just about the tuning or setting of the reeds or something more?
Thank you and best wishes from Astrid 
Hi Astrid @AstridHandbikebee63
The only reed that you retune is the -7 which is lowered a half-step. So for example: on a C harp -7 is normally a B. On the Todd Parrott tuning it is changed to Bb. You can still play a B by doing a blow bend on the C (seven blow) to get +7’ which is (still) a B.
This tuning is great for second position blues because the Bb there sounds much better than when played with an overblow bend on hole 6 (+6°). So for those who cannot play overblows (or only poorly) this is a terrific tuning! And, even if you can play +6° that is still possible because the hole 6 reeds have not been changed.
Regards,
–Slim
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I’ve gone through a few stages. When I graduated from cheapo harps I got a set of Hohner Special 20s. I thought they weren’t durable enough, so when the reeds went flat I replaced a couple of them with Lee Oskars. I didn’t like those because the cover plates grab my whiskers when I’m playing. Also, the Special 20 handles like a sports car, whereas the Lee Oskar handles like a dump truck.
So I started replacing them with Bushman harps, which soon became unavailable, which didn’t bother me because they were just like the Special 20: nice playing, but not durable.
In recent years I’ve solved both of these problems by switching over to Suzuki Bluesmaster. They are easy to play, they sound great, and they last. I can’t say that I’ve tried a lot of different brands, but of the ones I have tried, the Suzuki is by far my favorite. I have one Folkmaster, which I keep in my gig box as a backup. I like the way it plays, but I don’t like how the reed plate sticks out past the comb. Great harp, though.
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Yeah @Slim not sure if you saw me mention I picked up a Parrott-tuned harp from Mr. Parrott - a Crossover with a red glitter comb, key of A. Anyways - I LOVE the tuning man!
Definitely will be playing this tuning a lot more. I’m gonna be getting several Joe Spiers harps, and most if not all of them I’m getting Parrott tuned. I’m very comfy with blow bends, so it adds a lot of flexibility for 2nd position blues (b3 top octave) but also for 1st position blues or mixolydian stuff since it’s the b7.
Can’t wait to explore it more. You’ll be seeing/hearing me play that tuning in the future for sure!
Hope you are well my brother. 
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