[Harp-L] pre-war harmonicas

[<brianstear@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Captron100@xxxxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] Pre-war harmonicas 
To: Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: brianstear@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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In a message dated 6/16/2007 9:46:28 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, brian  
writes:

Can someone help me to understand why a majority of the 10-hole  pre-war 
harmonicas ( Echo-Richter tuned, Orkester, etc ) I buy off Ebay play  
sooooooosmooth, incredibly easy ( next to no air to activate the reeds ), and  sound full 
and strong? It's like night and day, even compared to today's Special  20's.
If I could buy harmonicas like this all the time, I'd gladly pay  twice the 
price of a regular one!

Brian, i don't think i've ever seen a pre-war harp, but in my experience,  
the reason harps play well is due to good manufacturing - close tolerances,  
airtightness of the harp, and proper gapping.
  My questions to u - how do u know that they are pre-war harps?   And aren't 
u afraid that the harps u buy on ebay would be over-played and that  they 
would need tuning?  Or don't u care, because they are collector's  items?  Just 
curious.
ron - FL Keys

Ron, I'm basically basing my definition of a pre-war harmonica on the the fact it has a 6-sided star in the middle on the back. I actually didn't buy these harmonicas soley for playing purposes. I do harmonica workshops in the schools, and I buy them for the kids to look at so they can marvel at what I present to them as the " tin sandwich ".
 But that doesn't take away from the fact that some of them play great! They help to bring out the nuances of my playing.   Brian