One little question: How come nearly all of the music shops I went to in the US (New Orleans, Chicago & San Fran) still only stock the the pre-MS Hohner Harps?
MS harps are not highly regarded by American blues players. Or, for that matter, by many Europeans, who are willing to pay the shipping costs to buy them by mail order from American mail order houses.
Non-MS models (not pre-, as both are still available) Marine Band and Special 20 models will continue to be available worldwide, according to the president of Hohner. Many musical instrument distributors outside North America have stopped stocking these "handmade" models, as they are now called, out of sheer laziness, and telling stores and users that they are not longer made, which is untrue.
On the other hand, Blues Harp and MeisterKlasse models, and just about everything except the Golden Melody, MB and S20 are no longer made in the handmade versions. Any pre-MS copies of these you may have seen are old stock. If you saw pre-MS MeisterKlasses anywhere, i'd be interested to know where.
Ned Kraft, on the other hand, is blissfully ignorant of the whole MS debacle and asks "Wuzzit?"
A few years ago Hohner had the bright idea of manufacturing harmonicas by a more automated process than they were using, and in the process to make the reedplates, combs and coverplates for several models interchangeable. This would let you take, say, a wood comb, thick MeisterKlasse reedplates, and Special 20 covers, or whatever combination might suit your preferences and desired sound. Great idea, no?
Great *idea*, yes. But the first time around, they found they had to change the reed design and the size of the main block. In doing so, they made decisions that favored ease of manufacturing at the expense of musical qualities, and the first MS series was not a resounding success. Over the last year, they have redesigned the MS series, with reported improvements in quality from those who have played prototype instruments.
If you search the Harp-L archives, you'll find a fair amount of diiscussion of this topic.
