[Harp-L] Re: Chromatic Repair or the rants of Joemama :)

[Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

May have been a time joe but I'm finding harmonicas have just gotten  
too expensive for us to toss in a drawer and buy new.

The shift has been for players to pull their old harps, especially  
chromatics, out of the drawer and get them in working order again.   
Some players are looking to ebay for used harps rather then buying new.

A few years ago when I  started promoting the custom end of business  
Hohner started to raise their prices.  I put the custom business on  
the back burner to focus more on the general repair end of business  
because the
demand was greater.  There is still a demand by gigging players to  
have their harps repaired rather then buy a new one every time a reed  
goes bad.   The old timers with disposable income will still buy the  
shiny and new but the
rest of us watching our pennies have to be more frugal in how we spend  
them.  Hell. the last time I could afford a new car was in 1981.  I'm  
in the same boat as some of the people I do business with.

My main gripe is I'm trying to help players keep playing their vintage  
harps but the doors at Hohner keep closing on me.  . If Hohner made a  
special exception so I could purchase vintage parts from Germany I'd  
shut up about them.
Until then, I'll be the squeaky wheel.

On Dec 4, 2012, at 12:15 PM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2012 22:50:15 -0500
> From: Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: Chromatic Repair
> To: Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Harp L Harp L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Message-ID: <96AE1FF7-D1A2-47CB-B6D0-061775120C51@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
> This is just a guess..but I have to fore warn you that my guesses  
> usually turn out to be facts. ( something David Payne had witnessed  
> first hand), but I believe that the klepto for NOT providing USA  
> with vintage parts has something to do with their (admittedly  
> unusual) klepto for charging USA customers LESS than anyone else.  
> Having been at this for some time, I have a feeling that Hohner  
> feels that the USA customers are more likely to play a harmonica,  
> and if something goes south, are equally as likely to just go out  
> and buy another. Ergo..the 'better price' incentive. Having lived in  
> Europe several times, I noticed a general aura that it was felt that  
> Americans could (and would) buy what ever they wanted, any time they  
> wanted, for what ever reason they wanted, any where they wanted, any  
> way they wanted, any hoo. Whereas Europeans were more likely to  
> 'stretch' THEIR possessions.
>
> smokey joe (last of the Cafe's)  Come watch his show. You'll laugh,  
> you'll cry................... You'll kiss 5 bucks goodbye.

Take Care
Mike
www.harmonicarepair.com