Re: [Harp-L] Re: Blues Harp
In my effort to find an easy way to bend notes, I bought some Blues Harps in the 70s. I had that problem with caving in the cover plates and then having them leak in the front. I never did like them much.
Steve Webb in Minnesota
---- Steve Baker <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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
>
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