Rob Paparozzi sent out an email on harp-L yesterday about a company that was based in Union, NJ after seeing a tour of it on an old episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Being the lover of all things American-made that I am, I researched and read more about it. I know that it has been brought up in conversation here a few times, albeit not in great detail, and it currently seems to be getting a lcoser look elsewhere on the web. But several things about it stand out in my eyes.
William Kratt, Sr., a German immigrant from Trossingen, returned home from America and started his first venture, The National Harmonica Company in Trossingen in 1918. Hohner caught wind of it and bought him out, and he moved back to New Jersey in 1925 with the proceeds where he founded Wm. Kratt Company. It was there, (apparently by all accounts) that he invented the first pitch pipe with a C-to-C white note scale. He then developed the chromatic 13-note pipe that we now know, and it's still manufactured today.
He went on to invent his own style of harmonica, which became his hottest product around the world, with millions of them being sold. Like countless other manufacturers, Wm. Kratt Co. converted much of its output production toward defense item contracts during World War II. But unlike most factories, his was allowed to continue production of his original product with a limited ration of brass. In fact, the War Department requested he continue making harps for servicemen overseas to boost morale, and they were passed out by the Red Cross in the field. The classic image of a GI playing a harmonica in the movies and memoirs is in most cases likely to be a Kratt harp.
Kratt continued to make his harps for many years after the war, including a plastic one in later years through a new company started by Wm. Kratts Jr. and Sr. called Plastic Injecto Co., which also made a number of other musical toys under the Arist-O-Kratt brand. But the original Kratt harmonicas were finally discontinued in the late 60's, and the company went back to primarily making the pitch pipe.
The author of a webpage entailing the history of the pitch pipe made mention that the Kratt Harmonica was made for several decades before being discontinued...."but may be manufactured again someday soon."
I, for one, sincerely hope it is brought back. The USA had a brief glimmer of hope for a domestic harp with Harrison, but considering the history behind the Kratt in WWII, I think it'd be a better addition to a harp player's arsenal, depending of course on the finished OOTB product.
Does anyone have any of these old harps or can anyone offer any experiences with them?
---------- Hawkeye Kane
Last Edited by on Apr 04, 2012 1:19 PM
I've had a lot of them. a few of them are total POS. Some of them are great - just like anybody else, they had good lines, and their own bluesbands. They did have some neat developments, they did have the first chromatic with a plastic comb. I do have one of those laying around. It actually had a special kind of reedplate nail that they developed to hold in the plastic comb. We're talking probably 1930s, 1940s. There was another harmonica in that same town by the way, Finn Magnus. That guy was even more interesting than Kratt. He's the one that created the plastic reed, Kratt came out with it way after Finn did. Somewhere on line are some neat court documents where Finn got sued by the IRS, cannot remember where I found them. I think there were some other court cases online that Finn was involved in.
I didn't realize Kratt wasn't common knowledge, from the HarpL ravings, etc. maybe it's not. Y'all would be really impressed then with James Bazin.
I wonder what street it was on? I grew up in that area and spent a good amount of time in Union. I remember as a kid harmonica clubs were big in the Newark area but they were the old school chromatic guys doing traditional stuff so I never checked them out. I use to play Freddie the German Cowboys club regularly - the blue ribbon inn. It was in that area. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
The pitch pipe history page says it was located at 988 Johnston Place in Union. Stayed open until 2002 when the business was sold and it moved to 40 Lafayette Place in Kenilworth, NJ. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
HawkeyeKane: Thanks for that info. I will have to check those addresses next time I go home to visit the family. I probably drove by the place many times and never knew it. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Rob played my sisters NJ wedding 25 years ago or so. I sat in on guitar. I came up from either austin or in from europe, or california, can't remember. I had never heard of Rob before and really know nothing of him other than seeing his name on harp-l posts but I don't read stuff there very often because it is too techno based for me. Boy memories pop out of these posts sometimes. I never put him, her, me, and NJ together till just now! Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
I've got some Magnus harmonicas. They are kind of neat. When I get enough of them I'm going to make an art project out of them. (No harmonicas will be hurt in the process.) They come in all sorts of neat colors. I was thinking maybe a harmonica/circle of fifths/wall clock.
Pete Sheridan made a response on the harp-L list with some additional info:
"The William Kratt Company made a number of different harps in the past, in addition to the pitch pipes they continue to produce. Their first diatonic harps were virtual copies of the Marine Band, right down to the wooden body and the arrangement of nails attaching the reed plates and the cover plates to the comb. I own several, and they are great sounding harps.
Back when I was a wee lad in the Fifties, I remember being able to buy Kratt harps in a variety of places besides music stores. These included candy stores, comic book stores, tobacco shops, drug stores, and even a couple of restaurant-bars!
Kratt switched to plastic combs sometime after the formation of the Plastic Injecto Corporation, a subsidiary of the William Kratt Company, in 1952. This new design featured a red plastic comb with cover plates attached by a pair of nuts and bolts, long before the use of this system by any other harp manufacturer. Unfortunately, the reed plates were now press-fitted to the plastic body, eliminating any possibility of removal without destroying the harp.
Wayne Raney was an important force in exposing American radio audiences to the harmonica. He was a harp player, singer, writer, recording artist and radio pitchman who sold millions of his 'talking harmonicas' through mail orders, and it was produced by Kratt as a specialty item. At it's peak production level, their regular line of harps included eight models of diatonics (two with eight holes instead of ten) as well as four models of chromatics. Wayne's signature model was a diatonic with flared cover plates that enabled the player to fit the harp into a large red plastic megaphone (called the 'amplifier' by Wayne) to produce a variety of 'talking' effects.
In late 1999 I became acquainted with the individual whose plating company was formerly used by Kratt for their tools and dies. Through his connections with the company we were able to acquire a few examples of the plastic body diatonics and chromatics, assembled by an older member of the Kratt family from NOS parts that were still on hand at the factory. Since then this stock of parts has been scrapped. However, Kratt continues to produce quality pitch pipes."
---------- Hawkeye Kane
Last Edited by on Apr 05, 2012 6:56 AM
One of the very first harps I ever bought in the early 70's was a Kratt Melody Maker. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I do have a WM Kratt made chromatic 12 holer, the Ultra-Monica. It looks very much like the Hohner Super 270. But inside the Kratt is superior in construction with its hard plastic comb that does not warp or crack which usually happens to the 270s in time.
