After much heartache, I finally bit the bullet and ordered one of these in my favourite key, Bb. It's an expensive harp, but I had promised myself one as it appears to be a real piece of quality craftmanship...."probably one of the best OOTB harps on the market...." I have been eagerly waiting for it to turn up at my office and today, it duly arrived!

Well, I can honestly say I am TRULY disappointed. This harp needs gapping on 4 or 5 reeds and appears generally very 'tight', dare I say even unresponsive. I know it's brand spanking new, but, it's nowhere near as playable as my Soloist Pro, MBD, Harpmaster or even my Golden Melody (all in Bb), which I thought was a poor OOTB harp!!!! The Silver is the worst of the bunch - needless to say, I wont be forking out for another. Sorry Seydel, but for that sort of money I was expecting much more but I am sorely disappointed.....

The Manji and Crossover beat this harp in every department. In fact, the Harpmaster beats this harp. You can get three Harpmasters for the price of one Seydel Silver!! Nuff said.

Edit: Bought a Crossover in Bb today....no contest - beats the Seydel Silver by a country mile!!!!!!!



Post Edited (2011-02-01 17:14:58)

Bugger! And Bugger! That’s not what I wanted to hear. I have earlier (before reading your post) ordered the Noble (basically the same harp) in Bb, even paid the extra to have it Equal-Temperament tunned.

I was all excited about its arrival, but now I am nervous. I wish you had ordered a month earlier Ian as I would have gone in another direction. By any chance have you complained to Seydel about it to give them a chance to explain?

Hi Chris.

I can't be doing with getting in touch with the manufacturers when this sort of thing arises. I am just gonna gap the iffy reeds myself and be done with it (when I get a spare hour or two). I can't be bothered sending it to them for them to send it back etc. I have recently had a harp go missing in the post and don't fancy losing this one, seeing as it already stands me in 70 GBP!!

On a healthier note, I think I have just been unlucky - your Noble will probably be a belter mate!!!

Thanks Ian, I will keep my fingers crossed and tell you how it goes.

Good luck with the Cricket, you guys have a half a chance this time around. I think that we are going to perform about as well as your 1847 did, and no amount of re-gapping is going to help us

Ever heard of the old addage, "If you can't beat 'em....join 'em", Chris?

Well, I have...and for no good reason, I have just ordered my first Noble.....in Bb, just like yours.....and a Crossover in C.....great harp for the dollars bud!!! Gonna get a full set.....already got G, A and Bb....they're all great harps OOTB - no exception!

I wonder if the Seydel Silver requires a longer "break in" period because of the stainless steel reeds?

That's a good call Jeff. I have picked this harp up and played it a few more times since I originally posted and it is certainly improving. So that's very good news and has restored some faith in Seydel high end harps for me! I will still tweak it though, when I have time.

It will be interesting to see how the Noble fairs when that turns up...

One other minor issue I have with the Silver is it needs lots of saliva to smoothly run the covers thru my lips, which can be frustrating for obvious reasons. The Noble has a matt finish to the covers which is apparently 'smoother' over the lips. The shiny stainless covers on the Silver do tend to grab.

Ok. Back to being excited again. Could be another week before it finally arrives.

Well Chris, my Noble arrived today....first impressions...a little tight like the Silver was (not quite as tight) but I know that will ease up with more playing.

Lovely and heavy in the hand. Not sure about the matt finish covers...look nice but too grippy on the lips for my liking! But........the reed plates are SHARP and I mean SHARP!!! Only played it for 15 minutes and then had to put it down as it made my lips sore...gonna have to get the 'wet n dry' on those plates!

I think, if I am honest, its gonna be Crossovers from now on for me. I have four now, C, Bb, A and G - every one of them is a harp players dream. Responsive, raspy, and LOUD!!!

Thanks for the feedback Ian.

Like Jeff said the stainless steel reeds may take longer to get loose, so to speak. They are supposed to last longer so I guess that break in period would also be longer.

Bit of a bugger about sharp plates, not what you expect for the top of the line model, but fixable without too much trouble. The rest is personal preference for the player, so the grippy covers for one may be ok for others. I like the comment about the weight as it is nice to have a heavy harp. As for the Crossovers, if your on a good thing, stick to it. You may as well stop looking around for others and start completing the set.

Still waiting for mine, could be another week before it makes its way to the bottom of the world. Will let you know what my first thoughts are when it gets to me.

All in all, not as disastrous as your original post and with a bit of wet and dry, a little time to loosen up, it may turn out to be one of your favourites.

Could well end up being a favourite Chris!

But as you suggest, I am gonna complete the Crossover set 'cos this harp really ticks the boxes for me after a whole lot of searching. Mind you, waiting for a LO in A as not tried any of those yet....LOL!

Have mine for close to a year now. Yes, it takes a lot longer to break in.

On the plus side, it sounds nice and sharp. And it's quite durable. Mine dropped to a concrete floor once (small dent in the casing, nothing more), had it rumble around in my bike trailer on my 500km vacation, accidently left it out in a thunderstorm while camping... a quick flushing out in the shower now and then... it still works and sounds perfect.

Ian, Chris, and Rene: how's the 1847 Silver working out for you all now?

If you had it to do over again, would you still buy the 1847 Silver? Why or why not?

(The blow 7 reed in my key of G Seydel Blues Session just died a couple weeks ago, so am considering an 1847, but... really don't like the statement about sharp edges. Would much rather have a recessed plate....)

Thanks in advance.

Deb, I just bought a seydel blues session steel in G. Had to get it, love that orange comb. Although it's a really nice harp, it's kinda pricey. For almost $20.00 less, and in my opinion, a much better instrument, I'm sticking with suzuki promasters from now on.
I have no experience with the 1847 silver, but have found that I don't really care for the "boxcar" shaped harmonicas.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2012 04:36AM by gatman.

Yeah, I really like my Suzuki Promaster (key of C), too.... I carry it with me all the time.

I like it's looks (eyecandy to the max). I like it's sound. I like the way it feels in the hand. No rough or sharp edges....

Thanks Jeff for the reminder They are a very nice make of harp... (!)

Hi Deb,

Well I have to say that I am happy with the choice. So much so that I don't buy any other harp now other than the 1847 range.

When I buy, I do customise to the point that I purchase the 1847 Noble and have the Silver covers put on. Seydel do this and lower the price of the Noble a little. The Noble has the black metal comb but I like the polishes covers of the silver. I say 'when I buy' because I have been given a standard 1847 silver and while it is still good, I just don't like the shape of the plastic comb, it is a different shape to the metal one. Nothing wrong, just different.

The first one had a sharp leading edge like Ian mentioned above, but all of the rest of them have been fine.

It is up to each of us to make a choice that fits us best and I like these ones.

Deb, if you want to try the steel reeds with the recessed plates, take a look at the blues session steel. It should be the same as what you have had but with steel reeds, the same reeds as the 1847 range and it's a new model range from Seydel. I have not tried and most likely won't because I'm set on the 1847, but I do like the steel reeds. Good or bad, they are different.

Hope that helps a little.


To follow with a comment but not aimed at anybody:

I must say to any beginner starting out, don't buy crap. What ever stile, brand, material you think you want, buy something decent. You will save many hours of frustration and pain.

I have a little laugh to myself when I see the questions come in about how good is this $5 harp. Yep, it's a $5 harp and there is a reason they can only get $5 for it. After trying a couple of $5 ones and may be upgrading to a $15 one, they could have bought a quality one, even if it is at the lower end of the quality harps. I believe that the purpose of the cheep ones is to make you feel good when you get a good one.