Let's all post photos of out harp line ups, cases, tools, etc. We can then reference this thread when the subject of who plays what, did what, has what inevetably comes up again...
I'll go first! (click images to go to full sized ones)
Upper left are Johnson harps I used to learn customization techniques and keep around because they are odd keys. Lower left are alternate tunings including Harmonic Minor, Natural minor, Dorian Minor, and Spanish. Lower right are my go to harps (see zoom in). Above those are my back ups (see zoom in)
Left to right: F self-customized Marine Band with green Buddha comb, D self-customized Marine Band with red Buddha comb, C self-customized MS Blues Harp reedplates Spec 20 covers and rainbow Buddha comb, Bb self-customized MS Blues Harp, A self-customized MS Blues Harp, Ab totally stock Marine Band, G restored Pre-War Marine Band, Low E slightly self-customized Special 20. Back row are back ups. Left to right: D Special 20 with Bluesband covers, C Marine Band with opened covers and mild reedwork, Bb Soloist Pro with opened covers (blown 4 draw), A totally stock Soloist Pro (blown 4 blow)
Cheap Johnson harps in odd keys up front. Second and third row are my first line harps, organized thusly (same order as seen in pic): Dm(d.) Bbm(H) F D C Bb A Ab G E(low)
DIY Footdrum, DIY harp case, and legendary pignose 7-100 4 watt amplifier.
Exacto knife mulittool for scraping reeds, embossing, etc.; Bent nail file for tuning reeds; metal strip from secutity tag for freeing stuck reeds and checking slot tolerances; Chris Michalek brass reed plinker and gapping tool, bamboo skewer section for smoothing and shaping reeds, feeler gage for plinking and steadying reeds while tuning.
Seydels: 1847 Silvers, Soloists, Soloist Pros and a Session
Hohner: MB, MBDLX, MBXOVR, SP20s, BRs, BHs and a GM.
Hering: Hering Blues and a 1923.
But, I've only photographed my other - and best - harps... I hope you like them. ---------- YouTube SlimHarpMick
Last Edited by on Dec 04, 2009 8:44 AM
Excellent, Mickil! I think you should send those Little Ladys to Buddha for some mods. I especially like the wooden ones at top that resemble flower presses. We need a vid of you rockin' that polka dot one. ---------- ~Todd L. Greene, Devout Pedestrian
"listen to what you like for inspiration, but find your own voice"
Doh! I did something wrong with the code and I can't figure out what!
I hate using different browsers. In Firefox I would have used the properties to get the URL. In Chrome it gave me the option to copy the link without going through properties. Turns out I wanted to copy the URL, not the link.
Last Edited by on Dec 04, 2009 11:09 AM
For some reason seeing Rick Davis's Walther and then congaron's picture including the chapstick and some unidentified to me objects near it reminded me of an interview with Son of Dave:
"He casually flips open a miniature battered suitcase, his travel bag containing a harmonica, a condom, a copy of Gabriel García Márquez's Love in the Time of Cholera and other odds and ends, all rattling loose."
Maybe a case company could start a "What's in your gigbag?" advertising campaign.
There's a guy who goes by the handle mouthorganman on flikr. He has an awesome collection of art deco harmonica pics. If you haven't clicked on it one of the other times I've mentioned it what are you waiting for?
Maybe I'll take some pictures in the morning to post :) . My harmonica collection isn't all so different, I got harmonicas, an amp, a mic (spent all too much on the mic and amp considering I hardly touch either, you guys would shoot me if you knew what I had gathering dust), a music stand, a card table with tools for attempting to set up harmonicas, haha. I have a piano that looks like a mix of the two in jon's pic but that's not harmonica related :P .
---------- ~Ryan Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
jonsparrow- The quick answer? Expensive! I couldn't afford one of the ten easy payments. It's the Bends "Croma Garlira". As best I can tell since I don't speak Portuguese, is it's a special collectors edition of the regular Bends Croma, which is still a pretty expensive and hard to find harp. At first, you'll say, I bet it's not nearly expensive when you convert it into dollars, and you'd be right, but the price would still make a customizer blush. I can dream.
i have this one OTB harp thats really expensive but i cant take a pic cause i never got it yet. its called the b-radical. i dont even know what it looks like. its supposed to play real good too but i dont know any one thats ever played one.
"i have this one OTB harp thats really expensive but i cant take a pic cause i never got it yet. its called the b-radical."
Why don't you wait until the actual expected shipping date/period has past? Saying you never got it makes it sound like they ripped you off, when in reality you were well aware when you ordered it that it wouldn't be shipping until sometime this fall. If you weren't willing to wait then you shouldn't have preordered. I know you were probably joking around so I don't mean to be harsh, but I figured after that last thread people would have gotten it out of their systems and would stop making unfounded statements.
Last Edited by on Dec 04, 2009 9:02 PM
LOL im just kidding. ya it was a joke. i have much respect for harrison harmonicas an there partners. after all i did order one. an i ordered it recently too, after every one complaining, so clearly i dont care.
After a 17 year layoff I find myself "back in the game"
http://img18.imageshack.us/i/013jww.jpg/
http://img18.imageshack.us/i/013jww.jpg/
The Blues Blaster has a Shure CM
The "A" and "G" are Customized MB's from "THE DUDE"
I customized The rest the collection myself...after a lot of trial and error.....sealing wood combs with Varathane (I like the end product better than using "Salad bowl finish")and some basic reed work. The Oskars and SP20's all have been micropored. All backs have been modified. The SP20 /MB / and Oskars get the pliers...and the Blues Harps get the backs ground with a dremel.
[URL=http://img32.imageshack.us/i/013kv.jpg/][IMG]http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/2223/013kv.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://img32.imageshack.us/i/001nxar.jpg/][IMG]http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/465/001nxar.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Last Edited by on Dec 07, 2009 2:49 PM
damn. I'm jealous. I think I have the blues now. ---------- My granddad gave me some sound advice on his deathbed. "It's worth spending money on good speakers," he told me.
The first custom i ever played was a wood-combed LO...As a long-time stock LO player, I was ruined from then on! Man, you guys have some nice toys! I need to up my game. ---------- ~Todd L. Greene, Devout Pedestrian
"listen to what you like for inspiration, but find your own voice"
lol..KeithE..the objects are a toothpick, a bent paper clip to adjust reeds with and a small phillips screwdriver. The captain's bars are from my Air Force days...nobody but you guys ever sees them..they motivate me. The one chromed mic is a modified custom license plate light fixture with a cb mic element and volume control. The pic with the wireless stuff is more current. all my harps are in that one.
congaron - my father was in the Air Force. Wanted to be an astronaut, and they stuck him underground in missile silos! Too bad he didn't have a setup like yours with him down there...
boy there are some impressive set ups here! Mine pales in comparision, but gots lots of mojo. The harps on the cover were given to me by sonny terry and the lining was from a very beautiful womans dress. My bassist gave me the box back around 1980. He built the shelves for the harps and needed a liner for it. Well, he was sleeping with this girl after a gig and couldn't sleep, so he cut it up and there it be. It has been around the world and I doubt I will ever replace it. I play stock harps - marine bands and delta frosts. I see no point is spending all that money on custom stuff because I get all the sounds I want out of the stock ones. Maybe it is because I started way before there were custom ones. You had to learn to get sounds all by yourself with no help from the harp so to speak. Walter
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
I have a friend I haven't seen in a while who used to keep his harmonicas in a square bucket. It was made for harmonicas, but I can't remember who made it. It held a lot of harps. I should email him and find out where he got it.
I just keep my harmonicas in their boxes in a small backpack. I can put my vocal mics, harp mics and leads into the same bag. Then I can just grab my amp and mic stand and shoot out the door. I like to travel light.
I have a couple of Lee Oskar soft cases and a Fender tweed harp case as well, but I never really use them these days.
Last Edited by on Feb 22, 2010 1:10 AM
Last Edited by on Dec 04, 2009 12:08 PM
