[Harp-L] Re: Stainless Steel Harmonica Reeds

["J.Gordon" <jameslincolngordon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

Doug Was amazing musician,a good friend, and a champion Harmonica player.
I recall at a convention I took a break to modify a miniature harmonica.(No I do not specialize in these, but occasionally retune them for myself and have given some of these alternate tuned minis to friends such as Joe Filisko, Charlie McCoy, Roy Bubba Burcher,and select others.) 
I was very pleased with just how loud one of these could be, found Doug at the bar,
and asked  him to observe just how loud the tiny instrument was. I blasted the thing,
and asked if Doug heard how loud it was. Of course he was sitting right next to me, and
couldn't avoid the sound, which was quite loud. He said "Yes. Do you know why that is so loud?" I asked him why. Doug said "Because it was done right".
I am so pleased to have before me a treasured copy of Doug's book- Make Your Harmonica Play Well which I came home from the 2007 SPAH convention with that bears an inscription
the author penned inside which I am very pleased about and proud of that says:

To Jimmy
Make Haste Slowly!
Best Wishes to a real Musician
Douglas Tate 
SPAH 1997

The bit about making haste slowly surely applies to the technical  Harmonica work he did and I do now, and is a reason why I share this with the list.

John asked-

"Where did Douglas Tate get the SS reeds for his early harmonicas?"

Not only was Douglas Tate a prize winning Chromatic player but he was a champion 
Harmonetta player as well. The Stainless Steel reeds in his 270 were transplanted by him 
and harvested from a Hohner Harmonetta.

RIP Douglas

-Jimmy