Re: [Harp-L] The price of Harmonicas

[MundHarp@xxxxxxx]

When I started to play "Blues" on the diatonic harmonica, back in 1961,  & I 
was 13 years old. Thank you Marion Walter Jacobs!.... a 10 hole  harp was 5/-  
(25 Pence).Or at the time perhaps $1 US... a 12 hole  diatonic, then 
available in ALL 12 keys, was 7/6 (37.5 Pence). Perhaps a  Dollar and a half US.... 
Here in London England.
Back then I bought them by the dozen! 12 in each key... Then Hohner  refused 
to sell harps to me direct... It put me back 10 years! I still play  Hohner, 
because I LIKE their harmonicas... But I'll never forgive them for  insisting 
that I pay "retail"... Despite my buying loads more instruments  than most 
music shops did, from them, at the time.
Of course my ambition back then was to earn £20 a week (Perhaps $80 a  week 
back then)
ONE DAY I'll achieve that!
However, I believe that the 21st Century harmonicas now available are MUCH  
better than the mouth organs of the 1960's. Now we have choice, but then in  UK 
the there was ONLY Hohner.
Well,  I was a pro musician back then,  & my lips  were ripped to shreds 
every night after each gig! Pear wood combs SWELL...  And HURT!
OK I'm 59, I've played harmonica since I was 8 years old. Modern harps are  
simply WONDERFUL.... Particularly the custom instruments.
John Walden
London
England