Re: [Harp-L] Re: special 20 pins

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Jul 31, 2004, at 4:47 AM, ludo beckers wrote:

> I have no idea. I never noted things as meticulously as smo-joe did in 
> his
> reply (or was he pulling my leg?;-))

 No, I wasn't. I was cursed with a photographic memory. I just hope 
that the skull fracture I received in March is going to help me forget 
some of the crap that's trapped in my head. Seems to be working (so 
far). I remember every date, every birthday, every ones social security 
number, but the other day, I forgot my shoe size, so there's still 
hope.

> I got my first harps in 1971, but don't remember what they were. 
> Probably
> the cheapo bluesharps.

 I should have explained that I didn't want to get my harps in the 
order that I did. I had to go with what was available at the store at 
the time. Luckily, The owner persisted in keeping at least one of every 
key on hand, but sometimes someone would beat me to the key I 
"preferred" that day. For this reason, I ONCE accepted a Blues Harp (in 
Bb) instead of a special-20. What a mistake. Another time I accepted a 
Hi-G Golden Melody. Not sure if Spl-20s even CAME in that key at the 
time. The GM worked out fine, but now I have a full set of harps from 
Low F# to Hi G. All but the one are spl-20s and I won't play anything 
else.

 I started playing Sep 51 (age 9). I played diatonic about a month. 
3/20/55 (age 12 1/2) I started playing chromatic. I did THAT till I was 
16, then quit and went on to other things (clarinet, trumpet, babes, 
pool, cars). Though I played (sporadically AND rarely) from 1958 till 
1983, I didn't do much in those 25 years. Mr. Roger's Neighborhood in 
75 and 83, the Ryman in 78, several telethons (Children's Hospt of Pgh, 
Muscular Distrophy/Jerry Lewis), Sit in with Guy Lombardo in 61, 
Manhattan Transfer in 88, local commercials & jingles, Pittsburgh Jazz 
Society. From 83 to 93 I was a little more active and started going to 
SPAH in 90. From 93-03, I was even MORE active, with the last couple 
years VERY active. I am now at a point where I may quit again, but 
that's neither here nor there.

 I learned right at the start that unless you learn to fix your own 
harps, it could cost you a small fortune to play them (especially 
chromatics). I "used" to work on them, but don't do much anymore. My 
eyes aren't what they used to be, and I have no longer have the 
patience. I get violent and throw things across the house. There was a 
time when you could affix a golf-cart battery to my private regions and 
wouldn't be able to get me to play any CHROMATIC other than a Hohner. I 
no longer feel this way and use the Hering product. Sooo, for ME, it's 
Hering chromatics and Hohner spl-20 diatonics, (exclusively) and I 
won't change. Been there, tried that, gambled, lost.

 While I am fairly sure that the spl-20s changed over around 1983, I am 
not sure and that's why I placed a question mark (?) after the date. 
Some of the new old stock (with nails) could have been from EARLIER 
than 83 and the newer harps I was getting could have quite possibly 
been earlier than 83 too.

 smokey-joe & the cafe s


> In fact, there's a lot from that era that slips my memory ;-)
>
> (used-to-be-smokey) Ludo