[Harp-L] Re: Blues Harp



The Blues Harp was released in 1966. At that time Tony Glover reviewed it and said as far as I can recollect that the product info stated that the reeds were different and didn't need to be broken in. In fact the Blues Harp (like the Old Standby) was never anything else but a standard Marine Band comb & reed plates fitted with closed covers, which made the sound slightly less bright due to the different shape and of course the closed sides. They never had plastic combs and were tuned exactly the same as the MB, because the inner unit of comb and reed plates only became a Marine Band, Blues Harp or Old Standby when the appropriate covers were nailed on, The Blues Harp covers tended to cave in under the pressure of holding them, which made them leaky at the front, so I only bought them in emergencies when I couldn't get a Marine Band. I'd rip the covers off and throw these away, replacing them with the covers from the Marine Band which had just given up the ghost. Like that I got a new MB with slightly soiled covers.

I always assumed the reason for this branding ploy was that John Philip Sousa's Marine Corps Band didn't mean much to Europeans and that the name Blues Harp was intended to make the instrument more attractive to purchasers there. In the UK the Marine Band was sold as the Echo Super Vamper for many years (fortunately fitted with proper MB covers with a different stamp) for the same reason.

Steve

Steve Baker
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