florida-trader
394 posts
Nov 15, 2013
8:42 AM
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I first began reading about Pre-War Marine Bands about five years ago. Like many of you I read Richard Sleigh’s “Field Spotter’s Guide” and Pat Missin’s excellent article “How has the Hohner Marine Band changed over the years?”
I started hunting around and bought a few of them. I was impressed by how well they played and I was also intrigued about their history – their oldness. I also collect vintage hickory shafted golf clubs – which, by the way, (amazingly) are as playable as modern golf clubs. There’s a close correlation. I learned that Hohner only made them in seven keys – G, A, Bb, C, D, E and F. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool to put together a complete set of vintage pre-war Marine Bands?” I also learned along the way that the really old Marine Bands have split tabs on the covers which are affectionately known as “Mouse Ears”. I was able to put together a complete set of the more modern appearing pre-wars – the ones with straight tabs on the covers – a long time ago. However, it took me much longer to assemble a complete set of the Mouse Ear pre-wars. It took me forever to find a Bb. I finally was able to do so yesterday thanks in large part to two members of this forum, both of whom I have had the pleasure of meeting. Tom Weston (aka harpnwillys) and George Royster (aka groyster). I met Tom at Hill Country Harmonica 2012 and I met George at SPAH 2013. Both are great guys. George emailed me last week to give me a heads up that there was a Mouse Ear Bb up for auction on eBay and wanted to know if I was bidding on it. I hadn’t even seen it yet but there was a better than 50% chance that I would have found it as I regularly scour eBay for hidden treasures. But George was the consummate gentlemen when I explained that I only needed the Bb to complete my set so he backed off. And much to my delight, the seller was none other than Harpinwillys himself. And so, here it is a few days later and my collection is complete. If you click on this one picture you can see pictures of the each individual harp on PhotoBucket. (click the left arrow) All the harps are in very good to excellent condition. I plan to restore all of them to playable condition – keeping them as original as possible (no Fancy Acrylic combs on these babies!)
So thanks to George and Tom – I owe you both a big favor. All you have to do is ask.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
Last Edited by florida-trader on Nov 15, 2013 8:53 AM
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