Re: Future of the Marine Band

[Jack Ely <IMS_ELY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Kim Field writes...

>Christian, you're giving Hohner WAY too much credit. Hohner's shift from
>wood to plastic had a lot less--if anything--to do with improving quality
>than it did with avoiding the hassles of working with the pear wood most
>commonly used in Hohner combs. Pear wood is a soft wood. Hohner used to
>stack their pear wood carefully and cure it for several years before using
>it in their harmonicas. 
8<--- good stuff deleted ...

Kim I read your insights on wood vs. plastic with great interest. I never 
liked wood comb diatonics (Marine Bands) all that much, but I'm not really a 
diatonic player, maybe I never gave them a chance. Your post got me to thinking 
about my most prized chromatic, a Hohner 280, 16 hole with wood comb, purchased 
new around 1979 or 80, long after production stopped. I call it my 
"Stradivarius".  There must be something good about a properly produced, wood 
comb harmonica. Mine is sweet and responsive to the lightest breath. I wouldn't 
sell mine for $500. Hmmmn, maybe that's why I liked the first Hering 64's (copy 
of the old Hohner 280) so much.

Our club bought about 12 of these "reversed" 280's from Hohner - they found 
them in their archives somewhere and we got wind of it. The curious thing was 
they all had the slide turned around. (I.e., the button was on the low note 
end). Well, Dick Smith quickly reversed this and we had a dozen brand new 280's 
for $35.00 each, sigh). We surmised that these were set up for (or by) Cham-Ber 
Huang. He appears to play "backwards" because his shuttle button is on his left 
- but his low notes are also on the left.

       Jack Ely - Columbus, Ohio  --Internet--> IMS_ELY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx