Re: [Harp-L] Has anybody tried the Hohner Marine Band Deluxe?

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Special20 wrote:
> I have not found any Hohner Marine Band Deluxe harps around 
> Denver, and I'm too impatient to order one.  Have you played 
> this harp?  Is it worth 50 bucks, in your opinion?  Does the 
> wood comb swell at all?

Too impatient?  The Marine Band Deluxe has been on the market for a 
couple of years now.  I'm not surprised that not a lot of retail 
outlets stock them, dealer cost is high and the demand for premium 
harps from the general public is probably pretty low.  Online 
retailers should be able to put one in your hands in a couple of 
days.  

I had a Deluxe a couple of years ago, and found it to be pretty 
nice.  I like the way they roll the back covers open, like the 
Marine Bands of old.  I didn't have any trouble with the comb 
swelling, but I did have a problem with it "delaminating" after a 
pretty small amount of playing time.  In other words, the finish 
came off the front of the comb tines.  I asked our former inside man 
at Hohner, Fernando Bresslau, about it, and he told me that Hohner 
had seen the problem and fixed it, and he sent me a new comb.  I 
didn't have any trouble with the new one.  Still, the Marine Band is 
not my favorite design, and I ended up sending the harp to my 
brother-in-law in Iraq.  

I did find the harp to be fairly close to the "classic" Marine Band, 
aside from being assembled with screws and the sealed comb (yes, and 
the covers).  Same tuning quality, same factory gapping, etc., 
although theoretically, since they have the best technicians in the 
factory working on these harps, they should be more consistent, at 
least.  

If you don't work on your own harps, you are in love with 
that "Marine Band sound", and you're not unhappy with the way a 
classic Marine Band is tuned and set up, the Deluxe is probably the 
way to go.  In my book, a $30 price premium is worth it for the comb 
not to swell.  

-tim