[Harp-L] The harp I love the most plays the best (for me)

["the_jukester@xxxxxxxx" <the_jukester@xxxxxxxx>]

     In the process of deleting old messages from my inbox recently, I came across the thread about "the harp I hate the most..." and felt obligated to add my comments. 

     I started playing harp back in the middle Sixties, though I had been avidly listening to a number of players since the middle Fifties, back when you could still hear real blues and real country music on a number of AM radio stations. My folks had a huge floor model radio that brought in stations from all over the map, mainly at night when transmission was clearer due to the "bounce" effect.

     I first heard Sonny Boy Williamson II on a station in Canada. I first heard Little Walter on a station in Nashville (WDIA).I first heard Wayne Raney on a station in Cincinnati. I first heard Jimmy Reed and Billy Boy Arnold on a station in Pittsburgh (WAMO). 

     During this time period it was possible to buy harps in any number of places besides a music store. I remember Kratt harps being available in local candy stores that also carried comic books and tobacco products, as well as in drug stores and even a local restaurant/bar where I lived in southwestern Pennsylvania. 

     You could also order Kratt harps from Wayne Rayney directly that he advertised on his radio shows, and I recall a product called the "Hound Dog' harmonica being available through a similar radio show broadcasting from a station somewhere in Texas.

     Kratt harps at that time were dead ringers for Marine Bands, having wood combs with cover plates attached by four little nails. Another harp available from Hohner was the original version of the Old Standby with a wood comb. It was basically a Marine Band with different (lighter gauge) cover plates. 

     (Kratt eventually went to a red plastic comb with cover plates attached by a pair of nuts and bolts, years before Hohner introduced the Special Twenty. The Kratt company discontinued making harps in the early Seventies. The wood body Old Standby was discontinued by Hohner in the middle Seventies, and a plastic body version made in China appeared, and is still being sold.)

     Anyway, when I began to seriously attempt to learn to play the harp, what was available (and what was being used by the majority of the artists I admired) were Marine Bands, Old Standbys, and the various Kratt Models like the Warbler, the Arist-O-Kratt, and the Mel-O-Dee. These were all Marine Band style harps with a wood comb. 

    When the Special Twenty became available I went for it. When the Lee Oskar model became available I went for it. When various other plastic and metal comb harps became available (Huang, Suzuki, Hero, Hering, Bushman, etc.)I tried them also. In the end, I always came back to the Marine Band, because I liked the "bite" and the way I can dig in and get the signature tone that is ME.

    As far as wood combs swelling up and ripping the lips apart, I've never had that problem, and I've been playing wood comb harps for 45+ years. Playing with a dry mouth is something I do naturally, so maybe I'm an exception, but I don't think so. All the players I mentioned above learned on wood combs, and continued to play them for most of their lives. 

     Today when playing out I use vintage Old Standby harps instead of Marine Bands when possible, though they only came in the keys of A, Bb, C, D, E, F, and G. The older Kratts only came in the keys of A, Bb, C and G. I bought out the supply of NOS Old Standbys from a music store that was going out of business some years back and I've found a few older Kratts that still sound good also, so I'm set for the duration. 

     Bottom line - the harp I love the most, because it plays the best for me, is a wood body MB, OS or Kratt. As far as maintenance, I have to give master harp tech Mike Easton props for keeping all my harps playable. And he can play that thing, too.

Pete Sheridan
Author - "The Quest For Tone In Amplified Blues Harp"
www.petesheridan.net


     

       

     


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