Recent info on the Marine Band Crossover
Like some of you, I've been frustrated that the Crossover is so hard to get right now. Poking around on the 'net, I found this statement by Steve Baker on the Harp-l site. The post was dated January 10th and was in response to someone questioning Musician's Friend's website stating that the Crossover has been discontinued:
"Musicians Friend is mistaken, Hohner has definitely not
discontinued the Crossover. As the latest addition to the Marine Band
range, it was only introduced in August 2009 - the instruments
available at SPAH were the very first to come off the production line
and the high level of demand has led to this 0 series being sold out
very fast.
"However, there is another reason for the current non-availability of
some keys: we've been making improvements to the covers in order to
eliminate reed rattle. This mainly concerns keys from Bb downwards,
hence the delay in filling Mad Dog's order. The new tool takes some
time to set up exactly right and we have been testing carefully every
step of the way. The factory expects to have it running by the end of
the month. Sorry for the delay, they'll be worth the wait."
You know, Harley Davidson was the king of artificial shortages for years to boost prices and help keep the mystique of ownership alive. I sure hope Hohner is just experiencing shortages due to production issues, not scarcity for the sake of marketing.
...but then again, just take the example of any year's "must-have" Christmas toy.
just bought one in the key of c from a guy on ebay havent got it yet but said he had 31 left
This short availability of new product is going on with several of the manufacturers over the last year. I've seen it with not only Hohner but also Seydel and Suzuki. Maybe they're just being cautious in this economy and not churing out harps that will gather dust when consumers are reluctant to part with hard-earned cash. maybe they're trying to keep prices from sagging with a double whammy of excitement over new product coupled with scarcity. Or it may be something else.
The Musician's Friend mis-statement is kind of unfortunate and not very professional. Someone there must have misinterpreted "not in stock an no estimated delivery date" to mean "we've stopped carrying it," or even as "Hohner doesn't make it anymore,' which of course are three different things. And only the first statement is accurate.
The Crossovers that I played at the product introduction at SPAH last summer were very good harps - everything you want in a Marine Band. And with all the development and tool-up costs for this new product line and the positive response, you can bet they won't suddenly abandon it.
Steve works for Hohner and is a straight shooter, so you can take his statement as definitive.