[Harp-L] some interesting things from the old East Germany

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Traded and got three  DDR Bandmasters today, from Seydel's days as the state-owned Vermona. I've cracked two of them apart to give them a look over. Two of them are about the same size of today's Seydels, one is about as wide (from front to back) as a Marine Band, a bit narrower. 
The one that is narrow have the blow reeds pointed down (like we're used to seeing), but it has a Seydel reedslot configuration that I have never seen before - and that's probably saying something if Seydel's made something I haven't seen. The reeds are very narrow, even way more narrow than Hohner reeds. This one overblows like crazy. I can actually bend the overblows on it, this is something I've not seen on a DDR harp before, that level of playability. 
The other two have the blow reeds in backwards.. like a draw reed only on the inside. The blow reed gaps are very open. The draw reed gaps are entirely closed. The reeds are actually kind of sitting down INSIDE the reedslot. The draw reeds are slightly shorter than the reedslot and actually sitting INSIDE the slot. I don't mean partially in the slot, I mean the whole dang reed is in there. The air goes through that gap between the top of the reed and the end of the slot. It actually plays pretty well.
In one day, two new things I've never seen from Seydel before. Oh yes, another thing, it looks like one of Richard Seydel Sr.'s prototypes from about 1900 - 1910 may have turned up. I'm making an Awesome Harmonica Hall of Fame on the Web site, just so I can put that in there. It's awesome. 

David.
 
David Payne
www.elkriverharmonicas.com


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