I am a harp player in a new blues band. We have been practicing a couple of tunes that are very demanding and in the key of D. After blasting my way through two special 20s and a Lee Oskar I decided it was time to try spending the extra $$ in a Seydel with the stainless steel reed plate and see if it would give me what I was paying for. Like I said in the title line "so far so good" I have played it twice as long (or more) than any of the others and it has yet to blow out on me. Have recently used up a C harp and tried the Seydel Blues session steel and am hoping to have the same results, and if I do I will get another Seydel in the key of A pretty soon. Aside from it's being able to take a beating, I also must say it has a bit of a brighter sound than the other two harps that I am used to playing. Up until just recently The special 20 has been my harp of choice, and I would still recommend it to a less serious harp player who is just experimenting, or simply does not play more than a couple of hours a week, but for anyone who is going to be blasting away on harps for at least six or more hours a week I think (so far) that the extra money spent on a seydel with stainless steel reeds is going to get what they pay for and than some. Lastly I want to mention that the thing that held me back from going for Seydel Blues session harp were some of the reviews that talked about it being A mustaches killer. I have a completely untrimmed wolf beard & mustaches, and in the first few hours of play have had zero problems with the Blues session. Hope that helps some, and happy harping, Steve.