[Harp-L] Re: Blues Harp, Lancer, Orchester, Sp20, MeisterK, Weltmesiter.
MilwHa...@aol.com
John Walden:
Please educate us on the UK Hohner harmonica chronology. I've seen Hohner
#HH535 Lancer 10-hole Richter system harmonicas made in Ireland, that are
presumably Marine Band harps with Blues Harp-looking covers. Keys of C and G only.
The Hohner Orchester series harmonicas were made in Trossingen, Germany
since the mid 1930s, maybe earlier. A German Hohner catalog from the mid 1930s
shows an Orchester I (10-hole Richter system diatonic); an Orchester II (with
octave tuning, 40 reeds, Knittlinger system); and an Orchester III (40
reeds,octave).Source: "Die Hohner Mundharmonika" booklet, mid-1930s.
The 1971 Hohner catalog shows Orchester I-major keys; Hohner Orchester
II-minor keys. The Orch.I was available in 12 major keys; the Orch.II in 9
different minor keys.They didn't have a metal comb, but a wood comb, with the reed
chamber walls covered in a wavy metal strip. (source: 1971 Hohner USA catalog,
Hicksville, New York).
The Hohner #Special 20 was not shown nor listed in the 1971 Hohner catalog
(Johnny Cash on the catalog cover, Published by M. Hohner, Inc., Hicksville,
New York, 1971). The Blues Harp is shown in the 1971 catalog,
The oldest Hohner 10-hole diatonic Richter system harp that I've heard of is
the mid 1950s Hohner U.S. Navy Band harmonica. It looked identical to the
present day 10-hole Hohner Golden Melody, with only the model name and color of
the plastic comb (navy blue)being different. The US Navy Band harp had brass
covers, and equal temperament tuning.
Steve Baker:
The Meisterklasse Richter 10-hole diatonic and the Meisterklasse slide
chromatic are both shown in the 1983 Hohner USA catalog, (Ashland Virginia).They
are displayed in a full-page picture on the front cover of the 1983 catalog,
"Hohner Harmonicas,Melodicas,Accordions."
David Brown:
Seydel makes the Weltmeister harmonicas for the Weltmeister accordion
company. Could you please list the Weltmeister website address in this Harp-l
forum? Thanks.
John Broecker. Please excuse this long posting.
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David Payne
"--John Broecker. Please excuse this long posting."
Gee, John, excuse it? How can one excuse awesomeness? That was a great post. And it covered an IMPORTANT detail that I simply FORGOT to mention in my long post, that they were made by Seydel for Weltmeister Akkordeon.
Anytime one company makes something for another, there are these corporate confidentiality issues, so it's hard to get info sometimes, I remember asking Seydel in Germany about making the Bushman Soul's Voice, which is/was made in Klingenthal, Germany. Even though I know these guys pretty well, I could never get an answer. The only way I could confirm it was by tracking down the number of harmonica factories in Klingenthal. There is one, Seydel.
I think Weltmeister is owned by Harmona Akkordeon GMBH in Klingenthal, or there might be some other sort of relationship. I don't know this for a fact, but, I'll sharpen my German pencil and write Harmona about it before long. All the old Weltmeister Websites are gone, the closest thing I can find is on the Harmona Website. They have the Weltmeister logo at the top of their Web site and when you look at their company accordions, especially the "Knopf (button)" accordians, you'll see Weltmeister accordions there.
The only real mention of the Weltmeister name I could find on the Web site was this:
Unter dem Namen "Weltmeister" wurden die Sächsischen Instrumente in der ganzen Welt vertrieben und stellen vor allem in Osteuropa den grössten Anteil der Harmonika-Instrumente dar.
Auf Englisch:
"Under the name "Weltmeister," the Saxony instruments were distributed over the whole world, especially in Eastern Europe, the largest part of the harmonica instruments."
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So I'm left to conclude and need to confirm that Harmona is the proud owner of Weltmeister. The Weltmeister harmonicas, I'm pretty sure, are no more.
The Harmona Web site:
http://www.akkordeon-klingenthal.de/
Dave
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Dave Payne Sr.
www.elkriverharmonicas.com