Re: MS Marine Band



- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Howard Chandler" <chandler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "HARP-L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 1:38 PM
Subject: MS Marine Band


>
> Harpers.
>
> I picked up a MS Marine Band in Mexico maybe 12-15 yrs  ago.  The first
> MS I had ever seen.
>
> Are they still made?  Were they ever available in the US?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Howard Chandler

Hi Howard,
They're sold in Europe only. They tried to sell themhere, but many players
got the protorype, or played them, including myself, and 95% of them
absolutely HATED it, and a large number of these players wrote to Hohner
letting them know their feelings about it in NO uncertain terms, and more
than a few endorsees threated to drop their deals. What they basically are
is the same reed plate and comb as the MS Blues Harp, and the covers are the
same as the Big River, except the top cover plate has the Marine Band
engravinmg as opposed to the BR engraving on it. They were using shorter
slot reeds back then on all of the harps pitched lower than C, and really
didn't play particularly well. However, had they changed to the softer,
thicker brass, and longer slot reeds as when they retooled in 1995/96, and
then used the Cross Harp reed plates instead, it might have caught on. With
the orginal setup they used, especially on the lower key harps, the bends
were very unstable and hard to control even for very experienced players.
The BR was basically a cheapo version of this, and since they went to the
longer slot setup on the lower keys, it improved the playability
dramatically IMO.

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA

PS,
Rick Epping in Hohner will confirm much of what I said.





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