1847
3537 posts
Jul 10, 2016
2:43 PM
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the return of the harmonica
Last Edited by 1847 on Jul 10, 2016 2:44 PM
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The Iceman
2920 posts
Jul 10, 2016
3:43 PM
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definitely worth a read. thanx
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The Iceman
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garry
655 posts
Jul 10, 2016
7:07 PM
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Interesting article, but way too MB-centric. They don't even mention other vendors, and barely mention other models.
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Kingley
4024 posts
Jul 10, 2016
10:24 PM
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Good interesting article. Considering its solely about the reinvention of the Hohner Marine Band and not a more generalised article on harmonicas. I don't quite see how you view it as being "too MB-centric". That is the point of the whole article.
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SuperBee
3917 posts
Jul 10, 2016
10:48 PM
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Other brands?
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florida-trader
957 posts
Jul 11, 2016
6:31 AM
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garry - I agree with Kingley. Back in the 70's, what else was there? The Golden Melody was introduced in the 1970's so nobody was going to fuss about any changes that might have been made to it. It was brand new. Same for the MS-Series. The pre-MS Blues Harps might be discussed, but they were identical to the Marine Band with different covers. Suzuki wasn't around. Seydel was still behind The Iron Curtain. Marine Bands were the default choice of harmonica players in Rock and the Blues.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
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1847
3540 posts
Jul 11, 2016
9:44 AM
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in light of some of the recent conversations re:
custom harmonicas, i found this quote interesting.
“The Marine Bands they’re making now,” says Sleigh, “are on the level of anything they did in the past. In many cases, they’re better.” Baker agrees. “I hardly need to adjust the instruments any more,” he says. “I just play them out of the box now. So does Joe.”
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Goldbrick
1538 posts
Jul 11, 2016
10:41 AM
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The last 5 pack I bought all played just fine.
Maybe its the way our ears have been trained but a good M band just sounds "right".
Like a Zildjian K cymbal or a Martin dreadnaught guitar
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1847
3541 posts
Jul 11, 2016
1:08 PM
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what is interesting are some of the quotes in the article.
“Hohner should have gone bankrupt in the late 1980s,” Baker says, but around 1986, the Deutsche Bank bailed the company out
now it looks like Deutsche bank is on the verge of going bankrupt, shares were once $120.00 now they are $13.00
the average person does not even remember lehman bros. we are not out of the woods yet.
Last Edited by 1847 on Jul 11, 2016 1:08 PM
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Honkin On Bobo
1374 posts
Jul 11, 2016
1:10 PM
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Oh I remember Lehman Bros. And Bear Stearns and AIG and Merrill...and you are absolutely correct '47
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Thievin' Heathen
784 posts
Jul 12, 2016
5:01 AM
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Great read, thanks for that one.
It kind of emphasizes the debt we owe to Lee Oskar for rattling Hohner's cage and Steve Baker for staying the course. And of course, all the folks in the cottage industry that sprang up to provide a solution while we waited for Suzuki to get into the Harmonica business and the Berlin wall to come down.
I wish I had time to click on all those links, but alas, I must go to work so I can get $$$ to buy more harmonicas.
Last Edited by Thievin' Heathen on Jul 13, 2016 4:28 AM
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1847
3544 posts
Jul 12, 2016
7:52 AM
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hopefully my new joe spiers custom harmonica arrives before the end of the world as we know it.
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1847
3553 posts
Jul 13, 2016
10:29 AM
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two other quotes i found interesting, were by lee oskar and mickey raphael
“I play a harmonica very, very hard, but I play with finesse,” he says.
“I play hard, two hours a night, five nights a week,” he says. “I’m kind of abusive.”
even steve baker was destroying boxes of marine bands. where the average harmonica playeris constantly reminded that they use entirely to much breath, these are not your average harp players.au contraire, they are considered the upper echelon, the top one percent of the, crème de la crème.
i think a case can be made that the average harp player does not use enough breath.
perhaps that is why they find certain amps just do not work for them, when others find
they can work perfectly in certain situations.
Last Edited by 1847 on Jul 13, 2016 10:31 AM
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nacoran
9150 posts
Jul 13, 2016
11:28 AM
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1847, I don't think it's how much breath you use. I think it's consistency.
I used to have an old golf simulator on my computer. There was this bar on the side of the screen. You'd hit the spacebar and this indicator would start going up the bar. (And hit it again when you wanted it to stop). It was easiest to control your shot when you were solidly in the middle/high range, but with practice you could hit it harder or softer and still control it. I actually had a conversation with Christelle on FB once on the subject of how much air to use. If you play too hard you blow out the reeds. If you don't play with enough force the amount of air you need to play makes it hard to get a consistent sound.
Or another way to think about it- think of the human lungs as two bottles of soda, and the harmonica as a cup. The goal is to get a consistent amount in the cup each pour. If you pour it all the way to the top you risk spilling over. If you fill it to 'half way' it's pretty easy to get it close enough to the half way mark so it looks like a good pour (or rather, sounds like a good pour). If someone asks you to pour one tablespoon into the cup that takes more practice. It's really easy to accidentally pour two tablespoons into the cup, and the difference between one and two tablespoons is 100%. If your volume pulses 100% between two notes (and you didn't mean it to) it's going to sound terrible. If you pulse an extra tablespoon, or are a tablespoon short on one of the 'half way' pours it's just a few drops in the bucket...
Does that make sense? I've been trying to come up with a good metaphor to describe this for a while. I'm not sure if that's a good metaphor or if it sounds like I forgot to take my medication this morning?!
And of course it's a red Solo cup, so this only applies to solos?
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Nate
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