RE: [Harp-L] Bell Metal Reeds?

[Steve Shaw <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

The Echo tremolos have "Bell metal reeds" stamped on the covers. As the reeds appear to be regular brass, I assumed that bells are made of brass. ;-)  Perhaps some huge great cracked 34cwt brass bell got melted down by Hohner and refashioned into millions of reeds. I hope no-one will tell me the far more prosaic truth and spoil my reverie! 

> Some years back I was at the NAMM show in Atlanta, GA and the Hohner rep (Jack ??; at this moment I can't remember his last name) gave me 2 MBs and asked if I would provide feedback as they were some sort of prototype. Like John, I used to blow out harps like crazy back then. These 2 10 hole MBs played extremely well and the one that I used for a long time finally went flat. Back then the prices were relatively low and I just threw it out. Well the other day I found a box full of old harps and in the box was one of those 2 harps.
>  
> It's in the key of C and has a sticker on the box that says "MUSTER". I don't remember the exact year but it was about the time they started putting MBs in the plastic cases. I remember talking to the rep after using one of the harps for a while but he never told me what was different about the 2 (that I can remember). I suspect that they might have had bell metal reeds or were somehow more airtight.
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> I do not know how to tell bell metal from the regular production metal.
>  
> Question:  Does anyone out there know how I might discern if this harp has bell metal reeds...perhaps some stamp on the plates? or color or shade of the reeds and or plates. Also, are there any other 10 or 12 hole diatonic harps out there that are bell metal. Has anyone else tested MBs marked "MUSTER"?
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> Meantime I will clean it up, play it (I don't think I used it much) and take it apart and see what I find.
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> Buck