[Harp-L] Re: Blues Harp

[Steve Baker <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Blues Harp was released in 1966. At that time Tony Glover  
reviewed it and said as far as I can recollect that the product info  
stated that the reeds were different and didn't need to be broken in.  
In fact the Blues Harp (like the Old Standby) was never anything else  
but a standard Marine Band comb & reed plates fitted with closed  
covers, which made the sound slightly less bright due to the  
different shape and of course the closed sides. They never had  
plastic combs and were tuned exactly the same as the MB, because the  
inner unit of comb and reed plates only became a Marine Band, Blues  
Harp or Old Standby when the appropriate covers were nailed on, The  
Blues Harp covers tended to cave in under the pressure of holding  
them, which made them leaky at the front, so I  only bought them in  
emergencies when I couldn't get a Marine Band. I'd rip the covers off  
and throw these away, replacing them with the covers from the Marine  
Band which had just given up the ghost. Like that I got a new MB with  
slightly soiled covers.

I always assumed the reason for this branding ploy was that John  
Philip Sousa's Marine Corps Band didn't mean much to Europeans and  
that the name Blues Harp was intended to make the instrument more  
attractive to purchasers there. In the UK the Marine Band was sold as  
the Echo Super Vamper for many years (fortunately fitted with proper  
MB covers with a different stamp) for the same reason.

Steve

Steve Baker
steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.stevebaker.de
www.bluesculture.com
www.youtube.com/stevebakerbluesharp