Re: Sp20

[Pat Missin <pat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

BBQ Bob wrote:

>Besides, the
>older ones used, according to Rick Epping, a thinner, harder brass, with
>somewhat shorter reeds, 

You mentioned this before and it's simply not true.

I started tinkering with harmonicas in the early 1980s, so I've worked
on hundreds of Special 20s from this period. Although the reed alloy
is noticeably different, the reeds are profiled slightly differently
and the tolerances were not as good as either the very earliest or the
most recent ones, they used exactly the same length reeds as they do
now. You can take a reed from a new S20 and put in into a 1980s S20
reedplate, or vice versa, with no problems at all.

The only exception I can think of is that I have encountered a very
few (perhaps 2 or 3) Special 20s in the key of C that used the short
slot reeds as normally used on harps of Db or higher. However, these
seem very uncommon and I've not encountered any short slot reeds in
harps lower than the key of C. 

Are you sure you're not thinking of the MS harps? The first few
production runs of those used shorter reeds than those currently used.
The alloy was inferior too.

 -- Pat.