Diggsblues
512 posts
Sep 15, 2010
7:39 AM
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Bring back the original Old Stand by.
I really liked this harp and so did
Charlie McCoy. I think they started to
have it made and China now I'm now not
sure what happened to it.
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How you doin'
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TNFrank
65 posts
Sep 15, 2010
7:44 AM
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What I don't understand is why they don't use stainless cover plates on the Old Standby. They use em' on most of their other harps including the "el cheapo" Blues Band. I've read a lot of bad reviews on the Chinese made Old Standby harps but it seems like the original German made ones were a fairly high quality instrument. It doesn't do a company any good to save a few pennies on making something if no one will buy it. I agree, send it back to Germany, get stainless steel cover plates and get the quality back in this harp.
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Harps:
Suzuki HarpMaster in C (on order)
Hohner Big River in A
Hohner Hot Metal harps in G, A, C, D,and E
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clyde
44 posts
Sep 15, 2010
9:41 AM
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for years the old standby....blues harp and marine band were the same harps with different cover plates and the old standby had a plastic comb...so you could argue that they were different harps with the same reeds and plates.... take your pick
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Diggsblues
513 posts
Sep 15, 2010
10:28 AM
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The original was wood and the difference was it had
a much higher cover plate. I heard Chalie McCoy bought
a bunch when he heard they were changing.
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How you doin'
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TNFrank
72 posts
Sep 15, 2010
10:44 AM
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There are certain things that companies just should not mess with. Like when Coke became "New Coke" then they had to bring out "Coke Classic" to take care of all those people that didn't like New Coke. I think Hohner should have left the Old Standby alone and just kept making it in Germany and came out with maybe a "New Standby" in their cheap Chinese made stuff.
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Harps:
Suzuki HarpMaster in C (on order)
Hohner Big River in A
Hohner Hot Metal harps in G, A, C, D,and E
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GEEZER1
74 posts
Sep 15, 2010
11:14 AM
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I have an original Old Standbye, wooden comb , made in germany, it seems smaller then a Marine Band, I wish they were still made in Germany..
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barbequebob
1230 posts
Sep 15, 2010
1:18 PM
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I've played a few pre-WWII Old Standby's and those were FAR better harps than the Chinese made stuff that passes for one since 1990.
The cover plates on those old wood comb Old Standby's mellowed out the sound of higher pitched harps like E's and F's a lot because of the cover plate design.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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toddlgreene
1788 posts
Sep 15, 2010
1:29 PM
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http://cgi.ebay.com/M-Hohners-Old-Standby-Harmonica-/360300709772?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e398878c
probably not pre-war, but pre-plastic.
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Crescent City Harmonica Club
Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
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isaacullah
1165 posts
Sep 15, 2010
4:12 PM
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The ebay listing todd posted had this quote
"Up for sell is a vintage M Hohner"s Old Standby harmonica ,I dont know how to play it but a friend did and it sounds cool, wish I could play I found these in a old vanity that I purchase."
What I want to know is where can one find old vanities filled with pre war harmonicas? That's the ONLY kinda vanity I want be purchasing from here on out! Is it some kind of universal karmic law that only people who DON'T play the harp are find these old chests and trunks and dressers full of hardly-used, vintage pre war harmonicas? What gives? Some people have all the luck!
:)
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------------------
View my videos on YouTube!"
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MP
835 posts
Sep 15, 2010
4:24 PM
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e-bay tends to have pre-war old standbys. the hohner portrait and the words are embossed up, rather than stamped in. of course there should be a star of david on upper left corner and one dead center on the back. they sound great, but better w/ MB covers.
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MP
hibachi cook for the yakuza
doctor of semiotics
superhero emeritus
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RyanMortos
785 posts
Sep 15, 2010
4:25 PM
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Isaac, my thoughts exactly! Next time Im at the flea market Ill be checking inside all the old vanities :) .
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Stephen Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
Contact:
My youtube account
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DanP
135 posts
Sep 15, 2010
5:31 PM
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Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) also played Old Standbys. The American Ace harmonica also had a wooden comb and was a very different harp than the Chinese made American Ace sold today. I think(I'm not sure) up until the 1970s, when Hohner came out with the Special 20, all harmonicas had wooden combs. Can somebody tell me what year Hohner came out with the Golden Melody?
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barbequebob
1232 posts
Sep 15, 2010
5:51 PM
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The GM and Sp20 both came out in 1974.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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DanP
137 posts
Sep 15, 2010
6:29 PM
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Thanks, BBQ Bob.
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TNFrank
79 posts
Sep 15, 2010
7:24 PM
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No idea on the Golden Melody but I got mine at an estate sale in '76 so it had to be before that.
On a side note, even though I've retired the GM it's still the best sounding harp I've got, just don't want to mess it up since it's a keep sake that my dad bought me.
P.S.
I wonder if my GM might be worth anything to any of the harp collectors here on the forum. I might be talked into trading for a couple newer harps if they're ones I'd like to own.
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Harps:
Suzuki HarpMaster in C (on order)
Hohner Big River in A
Hohner Hot Metal harps in G, A, C, D,and E
Last Edited by on Sep 15, 2010 7:26 PM
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clyde
45 posts
Sep 15, 2010
7:35 PM
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i meant to say the old standby now has a plastic comb
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REM
7 posts
Sep 15, 2010
8:25 PM
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TNFrank,
The old GM definately has more value to you than it would have to anyone else. If you tried to sell it on ebay, you probably wouldn't get more than $10 for it (most likely $6 or $7). When it comes to models of harps that are still in production, for the most part the only old/used ones that are worth anything are the pre-war Marine Bands.
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htownfess
184 posts
Sep 15, 2010
8:43 PM
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I had three still older Old Standbys in G: embossed covers with five-point stars and no grooves on the reedplates to receive the mouthpiece sides of the coverplates. My brother happened across a ca. 1923 Hohner ad that showed precisely those coverplates. When I touched up the 7-limit JI tuning, the very closed-down stock coverplate openings seemed to make this the sweetest non-trem/non-octave diatonic to tongueblock century-old standards on: the old guys in the harmonica club loved that sound & so do I. If you can TB an old standard competently thru the original Old Standby, you will absolutely understand the popularity of the diatonic a century ago.
The coverplate edge eventually seals a little with lip crud so they're not that leaky. Reedplates themselves very comparable in quality to MBs from same time frame. I gave one to Guy Forsyth and still have the other two. The Gs don't have much stage volume but the high keys ought to sound mellow, all right.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the current MB coverplate portrait of Matthias Hohner looks like a Simpsons character, compared to the prewar portraits? :)
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toddlgreene
1789 posts
Sep 16, 2010
4:40 AM
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Fess, That's because Duff Brewery owns the entire operation now.
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Crescent City Harmonica Club
Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
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MP
840 posts
Sep 16, 2010
9:34 AM
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Fess, just compared pre-war MB to Crossover.
on the Crossover, Hohner looks a lot like Moe the bartender.
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MP
hibachi cook for the yakuza
doctor of semiotics
superhero emeritus
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barbequebob
1233 posts
Sep 16, 2010
9:41 AM
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The engraving of Mathias Hohner has changed over the years, manily as it has become far less detailed as well as not as heavily engraved into the cover plate and the main reason was to cut costs on metal, just as the reason why Hohner stopped using paper boxes on their diatonics around 1985-86 was NOT because plastic boxes protected them better, but the fact that the plastic cases were much cheaper to make.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Last Edited by on Sep 16, 2010 9:43 AM
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barbequebob
1234 posts
Sep 16, 2010
9:46 AM
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The engraving of Mathias Hohner has changed over the years, manily as it has become far less detailed as well as not as heavily engraved into the cover plate and the main reason was to cut costs on metal.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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htownfess
185 posts
Sep 16, 2010
10:57 AM
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Mr. Burns would heartily approve--
Speaking of cutting costs on metal, I stumbled across another instance: the new stainless SP20 covers are very tricky to use on MBs or Crossovers, because the mouthpiece side is a fraction of a millimeter shorter than the nickel-plated ones were and does not engage well with the groove in the MB reedplates even if bent over to be more vertical. Can't easily get a decent seal in that area, especially toward the ends of the covers; lip crud or beeswax could seal that but the nickel-plated ones seal well immediately. So I'm cleaning up nickel-plated ones and setting aside stainless covers with a sigh.
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barbequebob
1238 posts
Sep 16, 2010
1:00 PM
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Another player whose main instruments were the Old Standby was Junior Parker.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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