Was this similar to the Old Standby or Special 20? Looks like something from the 70's. Just curious if anyone has ever seen one of these.... I kinda like the covers.
I actually did spot one of those in an antique shop in Indianapolis a couple years ago. Didn't buy it because when I picked it up, I could literally smell the rust from the insides of the cover plates. Thought it was neat looking though. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
If I remember the old standby was wood. One of my favorite harps till hohner messed it up. ---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
It's definitely a cheaper model. Note rivets holding the covers on, plus it just looks like one. I'd say this one is from the 1950s or 1960s. If it were made in the 1970s, it would have been made in Ireland. If it were later, it would have been made in China.
The SP20 came out in the early 1970s. There may have been some plastic combed diatonics, but I don't recall any, and certainly not with recessed reedplates.
The "Christmas cracker" pull-apart box is a 1960s thing, though. Hmm.
Could Country "Special" have evolved into "Special" 20?
Last Edited by on Oct 13, 2011 6:56 PM
I think the actual Golden Melody was introduced in the 70's, but the design was around at least as early as 1957. When I was at Hohner in Richmond earlier this year, they had one in the display case called the 100th Anniversary Harp 1857-1957, or something along those lines, which was identical in design to the Golden Melody, plastic comb and all. There were others, like the Navy Band, etc., which makes it unlikely that Chamber Huang designed the Golden Melody as many claim.
Last Edited by on Oct 14, 2011 11:23 AM
The book "Hohner - The Living Legend" has a comprehensive chronology of their models. Here and there I've found dates I don't trust, but here is what it says about the introduction dates of models under discussion:
Golden Melody: 1983
Special 20: 1978
It has no listing for the Country Special - by the way, note the lettering used for "HOHNER" on the covers. They've used block letters for a very long time, but with subtle variations, and something about the look of this resembles recent designs.
Last Edited by on Oct 13, 2011 9:24 PM
It appears that the Golden Melody form was used for the "Bicentennial" harmonica (1976) and the 125th Anniversary model (1982). Photographic Source: http://harpist-taka.pro.tok2.com/10holes_hohner.htm
The more I think about it the more I think that 1978 date for the SP20 is a good four years too late. I'm noticing several flat-out errors in this book.
I remember exactly when both the Sp20 and the GM came out and they both came out in 1974. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I remember exactly when both the Sp20 and the GM came out and they both came out in 1974. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
did not realize sp20 or GM had been out that long the music store where I bought my first harps sold mb1896,blues harps and old standbys-I abandoned the wood harps after I found sp20s and GMs but only recently have started playing wood comb harps again they are much better than the old ones as far as comb swelling and sore lips are the issue
It's definitely worth checking out. I especially like the picture of the Hot Metal harp, and this other Golden Melody that was apparently some type of modified harp for playing overblows???
The modified harp is known as an Overblow Harp, which was invented by the late Hank Bahnson, a cardiologist who was an early student of Howard Levy at his Augusta teaching gig and later a colleague to Jim "Torbodog" Antaki.
I used to have two of these, one in C and one in G. I loaned the C harp to Laurent Vigoroux to do a review for Planet Harmonica, but he never returned it. (HINT, HINT - Laurent, if you're out there I want it BACK.)
The Overblow has two horizontals slides anchored to a single button. They slide across the reedplates to block off certain reeds when you want to play an overbend.
For instance, if you want to play OB4, press in the slide to block off the Blo4 4 reed, making it easier for the Draw 4 reed to play the overblow. The slides facilitate overblows in HOles 1, 4, 5, and 6, and Overdraws in Holes 7, 8, 9, and 10.
Only aout 200 of these were ever made. If I recall correctly Hank did the work himself or oversaw it. It wasn't a Hohner factory job AFAIK.
Last Edited by on Oct 14, 2011 11:53 AM
I tried those at SPAH 2010. Pretty crazy.... sounds like a whammy bar on a guitar, and sometimes like a train whistle. This guy is like the mad scientist of the harmonica world. He had some cool stuff at his table.
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Last Edited by on Oct 14, 2011 11:33 AM