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

[Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Dec 4, 2012, at 3:24 PM, Michael Easton wrote:

> 
> 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.

Agreed. I was more or less pulling times past from my memory. But it was true, at one time at least, that Europeans felt that everyone from the U.S. was well off. Hah, did we fool THEM. 
> 
> 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.

I am in the unfortunate position that I have NO parts. People keep giving me 'donors' FOR the parts and sooner or later, I have them up and running. I am now up to 14 chromos. They all work fine. Gary Lehmann just re-tuned my last one. (He had worked on it originally..so he knew it well). But the other 13 were all done by myself. I have always said: "If you don't do some of your own work, it could cost you a small fortune to PLAY chromatic". Now for serious stuff, I recommend a good tech. Like yourself and several others. The work is better than I could do and the price is always right. And my hands and eyes have turned to gutta percha. lolol  
> 
> 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.

This is so true. I can now afford anything they make. But I no longer have the zeal. So I don't buy. As for cars..how about my 1991 white Jeep Grand Cherokee? Hah, I was never a slave to fashion. 
> 
> My main gripe is I'm trying to help players keep playing their vintage harps but the doors at Hohner keep closing on me.

Right, I agree and it has also been a mystery to me too. 

>  . If Hohner made a special exception so I could purchase vintage parts from Germany I'd shut up about them.

I think they SHOULD supply legitimate technicians. I suspect that they are more interested in people NOT fixing them. 

> Until then, I'll be the squeaky wheel.

Not a good idea. I did that once. The wheel fell off and I had to throw it away. Then I took a cab home. I never took a cab before. Now it's sitting in my garage and I don't know what to do. 

smokey-joe