Tom Halchak (Blue Moon Harmonicas) interview

Tom Halchak joins me on episode 91.
Tom tells us how he grew his successful company, Blue Moon Harmonicas, started in 2009. 
Tom started out selling custom combs, and then covers in different materials and colours. Tom went on to develop his customisation skills to offer fully fledged custom harmonicas using his Blue Moon product lines. 
Tom also started offering pre-war Marine Band harmonicas for sale. These hand-crafted harps have stood the test of time and with some improvements by Tom, provide a playing experience which conjures the spirit of the players of the past. 
As a result of his pre-war harmonicas trading, Tom now acts on behalf of the estate of Sonny Terry, offering Sonny’s actual harmonicas for sale, complete with the DNA of the great man himself, as well as a range of other memorabilia, such as concert posters and contracts. 
Tom also prides himself in providing great service.

Links:

Blue Moon harmonicas:
https://bluemoonharmonicas.com/

Blue Moon Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/BlueMoonHarmonicas

Sonny Terry harmonica collection:
https://bluemoonharmonicas.com/collections/sonny-terry-estate-llc

Videos:

Blue Moon instrumental by Whitt Smith:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NGES1uduek

Range of harps available at Blue Moon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXlrOo9qQKE

CNC Milling GM wood comb:
https://youtu.be/lhVFoRTDMjs

Jason Ricci video on Blue Moon products he uses:
https://youtu.be/PWrKgdGnhZE

Jason Ricci playing ‘Feel Good Funk’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSAvtxrTbcc

Custom combs for Big River:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcgQktZ8gDs

Adam Gussow appraisal of 150 of Sonny Terry’s harmonicas:
https://youtu.be/EDT4Xt70Omg

Sonny Terry tribute concert at SPAH 2016:
https://youtu.be/7ycKmefNKfg

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

or sign-up to a monthly subscription to the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/995536/support

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS

Chapters

• 1:30 Tom is based in Clearwater, Florida, and runs the Blue Moon harmonica company
• 1:43 Business started out selling harmonica combs and how he started doing so
• 2:09 Discovered the online community of harmonica and people requesting custom combs and experience buying own comb
• 4:18 Started making own combs to sell, initially wood ones cut with a laser for Golden Melody, sold via eBay
• 4:40 Combs were pre-made, ready to ship e pre-made, ready to ship
• 5:03 Demand for the combs was instant and customers helped in the product development
• 5:27 Started making the combs for other models besides the Golden Melody
• 5:51 Tom’s day job was as a Financial Advisor, now retired, but liked to work with his hands and with wood
• 6:24 Why do harmonica players want new combs?
• 7:27 How do Blue Moon combs compare to stock combs from manufacturers
• 8:45 The equipment Tom uses to make the combs is prohibitive for the harmonica manufacturers
• 9:15 Uses a CNC milling machine to make the combs
• 10:56 The precise cutting from the CNC milling machine is firstly entered into 3D modelling software
• 11:43 The combs follow the same basic design as that from the manufacturers, but with some improvements made
• 11:57 The custom comb industry started to replace the unsealed pear wood Marine Band combs
• 13:18 Started using CNC Milling machine a year into production of the combs
• 13:56 Harmonica players are happy to pay for a quality instrument and to repair their existing harmonicas
• 16:02 Offers combs in 5 different materials, four of which are used by the major manufacturers
• 17:24 The opinion on what difference comb materials make is divided, with possibly people’s hearing the differentiator
• 18:31 Metal combs tend to be brighter, wood warmer, and plastic in the middle
• 19:40 Plastic combs look cool as can be designed with different colours and patterns
• 19:51 Blue Moon also sell custom covers, which come in various designs
• 19:59 Adding own designs to covers is possible, but cost prohibitive
• 21:03 What it takes to add a new comb, e.g. Golden Melody, to the Blue Moon product line
• 22:19 Didn’t make any profit for the first three years Blue Moon was in business
• 22:32 Posts new stock on Facebook page
• 23:04 Has mostly retired from day job and focuses now on Blue Moon
• 23:45 Tom is a classically trained clarinet player from his youth
• 23:50 Initially planned to sell wood combs to replace plastic combs and the demand for different colours to identify keys
• 25:23 Demand for different coloured combs gave Tom the idea to sell harmonica covers, using powder coating
• 25:49 Started buying used / nearly new harmonicas and selling them in a ‘chop shop’ format
• 27:20 Website created to start selling products instead of via eBay
• 28:00 Started offering custom harmonicas, no longer selling used harmonicas
• 28:48 Sold first batch of custom harmonica’s at a discount price to demonstrate them to his customer base
• 29:11 Developed a business relationship with Hohner and Suzuki to start customising their harmonicas
• 29:29 Early batches were just harmonicas with custom combs
• 30:09 Developed customisation skills to then start offering fully fledged custom harmonicas
• 31:02 Has some well known endorsers of Blue Moon products, including Jason Ricci and Rob Papparozzi
• 31:24 How Tom developed his working relationship with Jason Ricci
• 32:07 Jason approached Tom in 2015, initially for custom covers, and helped Tom develop harps set up for overdraws and overblows
• 34:03 Jason Ricci played at Tom’s daughter’s wedding, with Tom jamming with him during the gig
• 35:02 Blue Moon also sells pre-war Marine Bands, lovingly restored by Tom
• 36:16 The mystique of the pre-war harmonicas sent Tom on the hunt for them and found them in plentiful supply
• 37:11 The quality of the pre-war Marine Bands is high, as they were hand-made and they use softer brass
• 37:39 Can see what sort of music was played on the pre-wars by how they are tarnished
• 38:12 Get a sense of reverence playing the pre-wars
• 38:18 Modifications Tom makes to pre-wars are generally to seal comb and replace nails with screws
• 38:48 Reedwork carried out on the pre-wars
• 39:42 Very selective on which pre-wars he buys now, to ensure he gets the quality ones
• 40:25 How Tom came to hold the Sonny Terry estate to sell harmonicas from Sonny’s personal collection of harmonicas
• 42:22 It was thought Tom could fix-up the Sonny Terry harmonicas a little before making them available for sale, but Tom didn’t want to amend them at all
• 42:48 Also didn’t want to buy the estate, but just sell on behalf of the estate
• 43:43 Arranged for a number of the harmonicas to be gifted to people who have supported Sonny’s music
• 44:00 There’s an exhibit on Sonny Terry at the museum in Trossingen
• 44:16 The Sonny Terry harmonicas are available to buy via the Blue Moon website
• 44:37 People who buy them often share their stories of how they met or knew Sonny
• 45:01 Sold in a presentation case, but you can access them to hold and play
• 46:02 Provided with a certificate of authenticity
• 46:18 The harps come with Sonny’s DNA!
• 46:28 There was a Sonny Terry tribute concert at SPAH 2016, where some of the harmonicas from the estate were played
• 46:38 Some of the estate harmonicas have been used extensively, some hardly played at all
• 47:54 How many harmonicas were in the estate, how many sold and how many remain
• 48:20 What kind of condition are the harmonicas in, especially the ones Sonny used a lot
• 50:29 One person asked Tom to customise some of Sonny’s harps before purchasing
• 50:50 Doesn’t know what songs or concerts Sonny used any of the harps on
• 51:45 Also sells other memorabilia from the Sonny Terry estate, as Sonny’s wife collected lots of material from all the concerts, including contracts, clothing, cases, etc.
• 53:29 Sonny toured extensively
• 54:05 Tom’s own harmonica of choice: likes to try a range to check out his own wares, but Marine Band is probably the favourite
• 54:53 Offers Blue Moon harmonics in different tunings, and the ones Tom uses
• 55:21 Only sells 10 hole diatonics, not chromatics
• 55:39 The different tunings available via Blue Moon website
• 56:02 Tom offers great customer service
• 57:14 The online harmonica community is very supportive
• 57:26 Tom can help people with their GAS

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Tom Halchak joins me on episode 91. Tom tells us how he grew successful company Blue Moon Harmonicas started in 2009. Tom started out selling custom comms and then covers in different materials and colours. Tom went on to develop his customisation skills to offer fully fledged custom harmonicas using his Blue Moon product lines. Tom also started offering pre-war marine band harmonicas for sale. These handcrafted harps have stood the test of time and with some improvements by Tom provide a playing experience which conjures the spirit of the players of the past As a result of his pre-war Harmonicas trading, Tom now acts on behalf of the estate of Sonny Terry, offering Sonny's actual Harmonicas for sale, complete with the DNA of the great man himself, as well as a range of other memorabilia, such as concert posters and contracts. Tom also prides himself in providing great customer service. This podcast is sponsored by Zeidel Harmonicas. Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world, at www.zidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zidel Harmonicas. Hello, Tom Halczak, and welcome to the podcast. Hello, Neil. Pleasure to be with you. Great to speak to you. So you are talking to us from Clearwater, Florida. That's correct. Great, and you run the Blue Moon Harmonica Company, which is why you're here with us today. So, Blue Moon, I remember, were you originally releasing combs? Is that how it all started? That's how it

SPEAKER_03: 1:47

all started, yes. I started the business at the end of 2009, and I only

SPEAKER_00: 1:53

made custom combs. And what got you into making custom combs?

SPEAKER_03: 1:58

I've been playing the harmonica since 1972, never played with a band, never really was very serious about it, just recreational player. And somewhere along the lines of about 2006, maybe seven, I went onto the internet to do a search. I was trying to figure out what we now call second position. I had heard of this cross harp and I went onto the internet to look up a cross harp chart so I could figure out which harmonica to play when I wanted to jam with guitar players. And I discovered this whole world of the online harmonica community and I was immediately sucked into the vortex. I think the first website that I really started to frequent was heartbell.org. At that time, There seemed to be a lot of people who were looking for custom combs. Every couple of months, somebody would post a question and they would get some responses. You could buy them from this person or that person. And then things would come full circle and the original poster would report back to the group what their experience was. And it was almost always negative. Either the quality wasn't any good or the price was too high or the delivery time took longer than expected. Something along those lines. But then a couple of months later, the same question would appear again and it would start the whole cycle all over again. So in the back of my mind, I kept thinking that there was an opportunity there for somebody who might want to step in and fill that need. And so one day out of curiosity, I decided to see what the whole, what the big deal was about custom combs. So I was able to identify who at that time was reported to be the top guy in in the industry and I ordered a comb from him, my buying experience, to put it mildly, was just horrific. When I finally did get the product, which itself was not a bad product, but the service was so poor, I just looked at this comb that I'd gotten in the mail and I thought to myself, how much could it cost to make this? And I'd spent$50 for a custom-made comb and it took more than two months to arrive and I was not treated very nicely by the proprietor. And I just said, I think I can compete with this guy. And so I started to look for somebody who could help me make them. And in the summer of 2009, I found a guy who could cut them out of wood for me with a laser. I had some combs made. They were made out of maple and cherry, and they were only for the Golden Melody. And I put them on eBay. And my business plan was pretty simple. Instead of taking the order and then making the product after the order had come in, I thought that if I made them first and then offered them for sale, then I could at least ship them out the next day. And if I said, please and thank you, like my mom taught me, and I offered them at fair prices, I might be able to get some traction. And so I started selling on eBay. And I was immediately swarmed by Harmonica Player. It just absolutely blew me away. And they were very supportive of what I was doing. They all knew more than I did about custom combs. They were more educated on the subject than I was. So they actually called me on the phone, told me what I was doing wrong, told me what I was doing right, and I fixed what I was doing wrong. And then they asked me if I could make them for other models, the Marine Band, Special 20, Blues Harp, that sort of thing. And so I went from making two products to about 45 products within three months. to over 300 products within the first year and was 100%

SPEAKER_00: 5:44

market-driven. Wow, so you got a lot of customer feedback and that really helped you develop your products as well. Yeah, I'd seen that elsewhere, yeah. Yeah. And so at this point, I mean, what did you do as your day job at that point? I'm a financial advisor. Right, so nothing to do with making combs or harmonicas or anything like that. You didn't have any particular skills in that area. You know, I've

SPEAKER_03: 6:04

always been handy. I like to work with wood, building things.

SPEAKER_01: 6:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 6:09

I think that pretty much describes a lot of guys who like to tinker with the harmonicas. They may not have any specific skills relating to the harmonica, but they're not afraid to take something apart and put it back together.

SPEAKER_00: 6:19

Sure, like you said, you had woodworking interests. So that was where you kind of came from, right? Like you say, you were swamped by inquiries and sales. So what do you think the great interest was in replacing the combs you get with your stock harmonicas? Well, a good

SPEAKER_03: 6:36

question. I'm a capitalist, meaning that if you drive by a restaurant and there's a long line of people every day waiting to go inside, you have to conclude they probably have some pretty good food. Otherwise, it wouldn't be that many people who are supporting that business. The demand for custom combs is evidence in and of itself that a custom comb can improve the quality of the way the harmonica plays, the responsiveness, the airtight, the tone, whatever you want to say. So that demand was what kind of fueled everything, and I just tapped into it. It wasn't like I invented a better mousetrap and tried to convince people that what I was offering was superior to what they were already using. The demand was there. All I did was get in front of it.

SPEAKER_00: 7:20

Yeah. I mean, I suppose to some extent, it's like people like to tinker, right? And they think they want to change it. But it's great. I mean, I think, you know, I've talked many times on here about the quality of harmonicas has gone up a lot over the last sort of 20 years of manufacturers doing a good job. So... It's interesting, again, that your combs, what advantage might you have over the stock ones? you've just said there right you don't necessarily think they're better but i do think they're better yeah

SPEAKER_03: 7:45

but i can't give you any scientific evidence that would support that my only evidence that i have is that people keep buying them from

SPEAKER_00: 7:51

me well i guess you are well we'll get into uh what you what you do exactly with your combs and then we'll we'll understand that closely but i guess you're spending more time making the combs right and they're more precise and they're probably flatter because in a factory produced comb from the harmonica manufacturers they they don't spend so much time right because it's expensive for them and you know takes time. I've done some workshops and here's how

SPEAKER_03: 8:14

I put it to people. This is no disrespect to any of the manufacturers because they're in a different ball game that I am in. Their mission is not to make the very best product that they can possibly be made, because then they would price themselves out of the market. They have to find that happy medium between quality and low cost. So when you look at, say, for example, a Hohner Special 20, and you look at the comb, it's an injection molded plastic comb. How much does Hohner spend to make that comb? Maybe a dime? And so what I ask people is, look, if I gave you access to state-of-the-art 3D modeling software that would cost you$25,000 just to purchase the software, and then access to a CNC milling machine that they're making parts for the space industry, and a machinist with 40 years of experience running this piece of equipment, could you take advantage of that technology and come up with something that would be an improvement over what Homer spends a

SPEAKER_00: 9:13

nickel on? I mean, could you? You use a CNC milling machine to do this, and CNC, I've been researching, Tom, stands for Computer Numerical Control Milling Machine. Correct. You've got a a video on your website which shows how this thing works. And I was pretty blown away by this. It's amazing, this machine, right? Explain a little bit about this machine.

SPEAKER_03: 9:34

Well, it's computer technology. I mean, it's not leaving anything to chance where it's done by hand and it's subject to human inaccuracies. The machine is programmed to move. You've got an end mill, which is the cutting tool that moves in a very precise fashion, and it makes the parts My combs are all milled out of a solid block of material. So they're solid all through and through. There's no cavities in there, no skeleton structure like you see with the injection molded combs. I'm as fascinated by it as you are. I have a local machine shop that I have make all of my custom combs. I don't make them myself in my shop or in my garage. I don't have the skills. I don't have the technology. I leave that to the

SPEAKER_00: 10:21

experts. So this machine that you use, and again, I'll put a link onto this video of this machine. It's incredible. It shows the accuracy. It's like to like two one thousandth of an inch and like one one thousandth of an inch in accuracy. So it's like really the margins on the combs that you make are incredible, right? And also it's all like very flat. So yeah, the machine is incredible. And so you program that in for each different type of comb, I take it. So you've got all, you know, sort of programs. Right. You set for the different ones, yeah. So did you come up with those programs or did the operators of the machine do that or...?

SPEAKER_03: 10:54

The operators of the machine does that. He designs everything in a 3D modeling software. So we take precise measurements. We might do some 3D scanning. So first, you know, it's done in the virtual world and I'll sit with him and we're able to spin this comb around and look at it from every angle and make any changes that we want on the 3D modeling software first. And then we export that to what's called a G-code. Then the G-code is plugged into the CNC machine, you have to program the sequence. If you've You watch the video, you've seen that there's a very specific sequence, step by step by step. And then we pop out a prototype and slap it on a set of reed plates and see how it works. And if it doesn't, we go back to the drawing board and try again. You know, a lot of it is, for all intents and purposes, mimicking, you know, what the manufacturer's already made, but with some refinements that are designed to make the combs more comfortable to hold, more comfortable to play, more rounded. You know, the whole custom comb industry started with the Marine Band. And we all know, if you've been playing the harmonica for any period of time, that prior to 2011, the Marine Band pairwood combs were not sealed. And so when you would play them, they would absorb the moisture from your breath and they would expand. The tips of the tines of the combs would stick out and expose your lips and your tongue to sharp edges. Many a harmonica player had a bloody mouth at the end of the night after they got done playing. And that's what created the whole industry was that we'll call it a manufacturer's defect whether that meant taking apart the marine band and and sealing that comb with people would use beeswax or butcher block oil or shellac or whatever and then reassembling the harmonica with the original pearwood comb that's how it started yeah but then guys started you know making them with uh out of other types of wood and other types of material and the quality of those combs at that time was kind of limited by what type of technology they had available. If you're cutting something with a coping saw in your garage and you compare that to CNC milling, you know, you might be able to make a couple of them by hand in your garage that would be suitable. But if you want to decide offering them to other harmonica players as a commercial entity, it's tough to keep up with the quality. At what point did you start using the CMC machine? Well, probably about a year. Initially, the first combs that I made were all laser cut. And then the guy who was doing my laser cutting introduced me to a friend of his that owned a CNC machine shop and he made some combs for me out of aluminum. And I could see immediately that the aluminum combs were much more precise than the laser cut. So it wasn't long thereafter that I started having everything done with CNC and I abandoned the laser cutting.

SPEAKER_00: 13:51

And I think it's, you know, it's great what you did. We talked about, you know, the quality of these compared to the manufacturers, but I think all us harmonica players, we know it's not the most expensive instrument generally but I think you know people are serious about it they're happy to pay the money to get a good quality instrument right so it's well worth paying for that yeah and that's why a lot of people for sure you know are happy to do so

SPEAKER_03: 14:10

I agree with that I mean listen I charge$50 for a special 20 comb And to buy a brand new Special 20 costs you less than$50. So nobody is more surprised than I am that people are willing to pay$50 for a comb that goes on a$45 harmonica, but they do. But what has happened, I think, in the harmonica world is that the trend or the accepted practice was to buy inexpensive harps, blow them out, throw them away, and buy more harps. And as harmonicas got more expensive, then... it made more sense to start trying to fix them and repair them. And then now when you get into customization, if only one reed blows out, well, then you can just replace one reed and the other 19 reeds are still fine. The trend has become to invest in quality and then maintain it. You know, we've all been through the crapshoot of buying a harmonica and it doesn't play well, but we put up with it because you spent your$20 or$30 on it and you might have three or four A harps or three or four C harps and this This one's your favorite, and the next one's your second favorite, and the last two are only ones you'll play in the case of emergency. So you're spending money anyway, and you're putting up with oftentimes harps that are either just either not made very well or just not set up very well for that particular player. So when you either take the time to adjust your own harp or install a custom comb or buy a custom harmonica, then you're always playing something that plays well and should last longer because you don't have to play it as hard. And when it breaks, since you've got so much money invested in it, then it pays to repair it. Even if you just have a custom comb on it, you might throw away the reed plate, but you wouldn't throw away a comb. You can just install that comb on another set of reed

SPEAKER_00: 15:56

plates. We'll just finish off talking about combs, but you have moved into other areas, which we'll get into in this. But yeah, just finish off about combs then. So you do offer them now in five different materials. That's correct. Yeah, DuPont, Corian, Fancy Acrylic, Aircraft Grade, Anodized Aluminium Brass, and phenolic resin. So, you know, what's the difference with these? Is it a case of, you know, how they sound and feel? Oh, you're opening up another can of worms,

SPEAKER_03: 16:23

Neil. Again, I will tell you that I make no claims about on my website or any of my comments that I post on Facebook about, you know, one material sounding better than the other. It's all market demand. If you look at the major manufacturers, all of them make combs out of pretty much the same materials that I make. They all make wood combs. They all make aluminum combs. Suzuki makes a ProMaster comb. Hohner makes a Meister Class out of an aluminum comb. They all make a brass combed instrument. Suzuki makes an instrument with a chrome-plated brass comb. Hohner has an Amadeus chromatic that has a brass comb. There are plenty of brass combed harmonicas out there. They make some sort of a composite. Suzuki Manji is a composite comb. And they make them out of plastic, which acrylic is basically a plastic. So I'm not really reinventing the wheel in terms of introducing materials, maybe other than DuPont, Corian. So people buy combs for their own reasons. The harmonica world is pretty evenly divided between between those who say that comb material makes no difference whatsoever in the tone and those who say it does. And I've been in the middle of those conversations for the past 13 years. My conclusion is that some people have better hearing than others. You know, there are people who are tone deaf and there are people who have perfect pitch. So it's black and white and you have various shades of gray. Most people live in the gray space. I have a pretty good ear, but it really should come as no surprise that somebody who earns their living as a professional musician would have a better ear than I do and would be able to hear subtle overtones that perhaps I can't hear. So the people who say that there is no difference, well, as far as I'm concerned, they're telling the truth because they don't hear the difference yeah people who were saying that there is a difference they're also telling the truth because they can hear a difference and it's an argument that will never be satisfied but it doesn't really matter to me because you know if you prefer brass versus wood or uh aluminum versus corian

SPEAKER_00: 18:29

it

SPEAKER_03: 18:29

doesn't

SPEAKER_00: 18:29

matter to me i make them all well i mean certainly for my years you know i've used metal combs and you know your brass one i think that those ones to me sound brighter i mean i think that yeah that that seems to be and then the wooden ones obviously traditionally was in the marine bands and people kind of like it for that reason probably does sound a little bit warmer so i think generally you could say that couldn't you i mean that the plastics You know, what about the plastics between the wood and metal? Because I think there are clear differences between the wood and metal that maybe the plastics sit in the middle. Yep, I would agree with that entirely.

SPEAKER_03: 19:00

And bear in mind that when you say a metal comb like a brass comb sounds brighter, that doesn't mean it's better or worse. It's just different. If you prefer a brighter tone, well, then it'll sound better to you. If you don't like a brighter tone, well, then it won't sound as good to you. So it's a subjective thing. It's according to your taste. So it's not a better or worse situation. but it is a difference. When you take into consideration the many thousands of emails and conversations I've had with people, that what you have described has become the consensus. Metal combs are brighter. Wood combs have a warmer tone. The acrylic and the Corian are a little brighter than the wood, but not as bright as

SPEAKER_00: 19:40

the metal. So on the other thing that they do, which you also do, is that they also look very cool, particularly the plastic ones, because you can sort of make them different colors and different patterns and all that kind of cool stuff. Yes. Yeah. Which brings me on to you also make custom covers. Right. You know, you can have these colored in any sort of way. You've got ones obviously with American flags, but basically anything, right? If someone sends you a picture, can you have that kind of put onto the comb?

SPEAKER_03: 20:04

Well, it's possible to do it, but it's cost prohibitive because to make one-off items, you have to go through the expense of having the film made. just to produce one item, it would be impractical. But

SPEAKER_00: 20:19

theoretically, yes. But generally, they're stock. Like you say, you make stock ones which work.

SPEAKER_03: 20:24

Right. Well, I have to make a best guess about what people will like and what will sell. My business, I'm often amazed. I do business all over the world, and I'll get an order for a custom aluminum comb for a marine band from Germany or from England or from France. canada and i'm thinking there's nobody else in germany who can make a cnc milled aluminum comb for a marine van not as good as yours tom well honestly i don't think that's the issue i mean i'd like to think that that what i make is very high quality but the reality is it's an economical limitation because if i was to design a new comb today for example the the hunter just came out with a new version of the golden melody yeah which i'm sure that at some point in time i will make kind for that harmonica. It's completely different from the old version, so it requires a new design. But for me to step up and make that comb, I'm going to have to pay my machinist for his work to do the designing, and then I have to pay for the prototyping, and then once I've got that in place, machine shops are not very fond of making five or ten of whatever it is they're producing. There's a cost factor involved in setting up a CNC machine to cut any anything, including harmonica combs. And so once they said, look, they want to run 100 or 200 or 300 of these things. So when you add up all of that, say, well, okay, that only cost, you know, pick a number. Maybe it costs$20 to make a comb, but you got to make 200 of them.

SPEAKER_01: 21:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 22:00

So now you're spending$4,000, not including the design costs and the prototyping costs. And so when other people look at that, they say, Do I want to spend$4,000 or do I just want to buy one from Blue Moon for$40?

SPEAKER_00: 22:14

That's why people come to me. And obviously you've got to pay that cost up front confident that you're going to sell them, right? Well, the first three years that I was

SPEAKER_03: 22:22

in business, I didn't take a penny out of my business. I just kept reinvesting what I made back into more inventory and expanding my line. You know, if you've been to my Facebook page, whenever I get a fresh batch of combs, I'll post it on my Facebook page to let people know that I've restocked because people are looking for, you know, whether it's an aluminum comb or a brass comb or an acrylic comb, I'll let them know that, okay, I've got them. But every time I post a picture of a box of of harmonica combs, there's at least two or three or$4,000 in that box. And the reality is not everybody can do that. And that's why I have enjoyed

SPEAKER_00: 23:00

the success that I have. Definitely. Yeah. No, absolutely. You built it up well. You still got your day job. I have pretty much retired

SPEAKER_03: 23:07

from my day job about two years ago. My wife and I own our practice and my son graduated from college with a finance degree. And so he joined the practice a couple of years ago and I backed away. And so now I spend my time in my

SPEAKER_00: 23:22

harmonica shop. Great. Devoting yourself to the harmonica. So that's great. So, okay. So you do these covers and they come in various materials. And I guess it's the same answer that, you know, Do they make you sound better or is it the case that they play well and maybe they move nicely under your lips? I'll tell you how it all came about going

SPEAKER_03: 23:41

back to the colorful combs. I grew up playing the clarinet. I'm a classically trained clarinet player. And my observation, my initial plan when I got into the comb business was that I thought that wood combs would sound better than plastic combs. So I, okay, I'll make a golden melody comb out of wood, we'll replace the plastic, it'll improve the tone. That was my original business plan. The guy who was cutting my combs with the laser equipment, one day I went to his shop to pick up a batch of combs and he presented me with some combs he had cut out of pieces of acrylic. I was very skeptical. Who would replace the original plastic gold melty comb with another piece of plastic? And he had cut them out of four colors, black, white, crystal clear, and this hideous fluorescent green. And I said, who's going to buy these? And at that time, I was selling on eBay. It costs maybe a dollar to put up a listing. He said, well, what do you got to lose? Put them up on eBay. If they sell, they sell. If they don't sell, they don't sell. And so I put them up on eBay. And then Hideous Green outsold everything else combined. So it shows you how much I know. And then I started getting emails from guys asking me if I... had more colors available. One of the emails came from a fellow named Jamie Gardner, who's a Hohner and Dorsey and very nice guy, very fine player. And I was like, well, I make four different colors. Isn't four enough? No, I want to make a key coding chart for my market. There's different color in every key. I was like, okay. So I went out and bought more acrylic and I started offering 16 different colors. And then when I realized that people were buying different colors as a means of identifying their keys, I thought to myself, well, the most visible part of the harmonica is not the comb, it's the cover. And so once again, my friend who owned the laser shop introduced me to another friend of his that did powder coating. So I took apart a whole bunch of harmonicas that I had, took them down to this powder coater and had them powder coat. They'd be different colors. See how they turned out? And they came out beautifully. So I said, okay, I'll expand my offerings. Now, if you go to the Hohner C shop, no disrespect to them, but if you want to buy a set of cover plates for a special 20, it'll cost you 20 or$25, something like that. Same thing is true for the Golden Melody or the Marine Band or Blues Harp, whatever. So it's cost prohibitive for me to buy brand new covers from Hohner, invest the money in powder coating, and then try to resell them and make a profit. So I started looking on eBay and I started buying used harmonicas on eBay, thinking I can clean them up and repurpose them. And so I started buying bunches and bunches and bunches of harmonicas on eBay. And almost all of the harmonicas that I purchased, they were advertised as either used and many of them said for parts only. which was perfect because I was just cannibalizing them. But then what I found is that most of the harmonicas that I was buying off of V-Bay were new. You take the covers off, you could see no staining on the reed plates, no signs of use whatsoever. And so I felt perfectly comfortable just kind of cleaning these up with a little soap and water. And then in addition to offering the covers, I was offering harmonicas. the reed plates to people. So in the United States, we have something called a chop shop. And that's where you take a car and you cut it up into the pieces and sell it off as parts. And it's worth more than the car. So I was basically operating a chop shop. I was powder coating the covers. I was repurposing the reed plates. And then I had someone build me a website where it was kind of a build-a-bear. You could go onto my website and you could pick out which model, which color comb, which key reed plates, and which color covers. And I I would build it for you for$45. I knew nothing about reed work. I was just taking apart used harmonicas, cleaning them up, getting the covers powder coated, and then putting them back together again. I knew enough for my playing, you know, if they sounded good or if a reed was broken, I wouldn't use those reed plates. If they sounded out of tune, I wouldn't use those. But I had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of harmonicas. So I had, you know, plenty to choose from.

SPEAKER_00: 28:00

So did these evolve then into your custom harmonica?

SPEAKER_03: 28:04

Absolutely. Right. I did the used harmonica thing for probably a couple of years and sold lots of them. Ultimately, it led to a couple of things. Number one, it became very difficult for me to replenish my stock because I was literally at the mercy of what I could find on eBay, whether it was the model or the condition or the keys. So I was at the mercy of what I could find. The other thing was that reed plates, which maybe in the beginning I didn't use because one of the reeds was broken or because it was out of tune, it forced me to learn how to tune reed plates. It forced me to learn how to repair them so I could extract the value from them. But after a couple of years, I decided that I wanted to get out of the used harmonica business, so I had accumulated a long list of customers. And I sent them all an email. I took every set of reed plates and covers that I had. And I built, oh, I don't know, about 100, 125 harmonicas and sent all my customers an email. I thanked them for their support. And I sold these hard for$15 or$20 a piece. And of course, they flew off the shelves. So I drew a line in the sand. And then for that point, I managed to secure a relationship with Hohner. And then later, I met the people at Suzuki when I went to the Spock convention. and became a Hohner dealer and a Suzuki dealer and started building harmonicas using brand new parts instead of the used parts.

SPEAKER_00: 29:29

You do the customization yourself then?

SPEAKER_03: 29:31

Yes. Well, initially, I went from the used harps to new harps. And for all intents and purposes, the harmonicas that I was selling were little more than stock harmonicas on custom combs. And I advertised them as such. I didn't exaggerate what they were. I even struggled... with what to call them because out of respect for the established customizers, I couldn't call them custom harmonicas. But what were they? You know, they weren't stock and they weren't custom. They were somewhere in between. And I got a lot of orders because just through the installation of a custom comb, it did improve the performance. But then I learned, you know, to flat sand draw plates and to tune their instruments and to emboss the reed slots and all the other things that we do as customizers. So I was getting lots and lots and lots of practice because I was getting lots of orders. And my customers were always getting a little more than what they paid for because I wasn't charging them for customization, but I was starting to do customization. And over time, my productivity went down because it was taking me longer to build each harp. So I had to raise my prices, but nobody objected because the quality was better. And so I went through that whole cycle several times over a a few years, where as I learned how to do more, and I got lots and lots of practice, because I was getting a lot of orders, the quality improved, the prices went up,

SPEAKER_00: 31:00

and here I am today. And you've got some great endorsers of your products, including the great Jason Ritchie, who's very much a user of your harmonicas, and has put a lot, plenty of videos, and you know, showing which ones are used, and I'll put some links up to that, and so yeah, so you've got Jason, and you've all got Rob Paparazzi, and I've interviewed Rob, he talks a how he uses big river harps with your combs and yeah you got ronny shellis so various players so well you know what about jason tells about how you formed that relationship with jason he um he actually played at your uh daughter's wedding didn't he

SPEAKER_03: 31:31

that's right that's right jason has been such a wonderful uh experience for me uh he's such a dear friend you know a lot of guys are gearheads i affectionately call them harmonica nerds or harmonica geeks they are We're all searching for the ultimate sound and the ultimate instrument and so on and so forth. And Jason had been following me. And of course, Jason's been in the industry for much, much longer than I have. And he's seen other companies come and go, other people that had tried and failed. And he had been following me. And so back along around, I don't know, 2014 or 15, he approached me. wanted to try some of my products. And at that time, it was just custom combs. I was already building, quote unquote, custom harmonicas at what stage of development, I don't recall. But he was interested in particular in the powder-coated covers because he'd had an issue with the covers on his harmonicas rusting. So those were two things that he was interested in. So I was happy to provide him with some combs and with some covers. It ultimately led to me building some harps for him and then him critiquing me. So he's been an instrumental part of my improvement, at least from a standpoint of a sounding board. And I didn't start offering on my website overblow and overdraw harps until such time as I was able to hand Jason... a harmonica and he would be comfortable going up on stage and playing with it you know performing with it once I'd arrived at that point in time then I felt very confident in being able to offer overblow overdraw harps on my website but Jason has been an integral part of my business since probably 2016 or so

SPEAKER_00: 33:20

that's great well having one of the best harmonica players in the world as your tester is a pretty good way to go Tom absolutely

SPEAKER_03: 33:30

and and the fact of life is that we could maybe argue he still knows more about harmonicas than i do you know but the gap was very wide six seven years ago and the gap has narrowed. But he's been a huge blessing to me. Aside from the business side of things, he's been just a great friend. When I asked my daughter who she wanted, we've got to find a band for your wedding, and my daughter knows Jason because she's seen him perform. And she said, do you think Jason would perform? And I was like, wow. I mean, my daughter's an opera singer. And she's like, okay. Usually dad's taste in music is a little square for their kids' weddings, but when she asked me if Jason would, and I will tell you, it was a big wedding, and everybody had an absolute blast. He was sensational.

SPEAKER_00: 34:31

And you jammed with Jason during the wedding, didn't you? I did. That was quite thrilling for me. Did you put him in his place, Tom?

SPEAKER_03: 34:39

No. He gave me a couple, you know, I said, he asked me if I wanted to play at the wedding. I said, absolutely, and he gave me a couple songs, and so, you know, I worked, I woodchetted those pretty hard. You know, I think I surprised a lot of people that they kind of knew I played the harmonica. They kind of knew I was in the industry, but they didn't know that I could actually play. Fantastic. So it

SPEAKER_00: 35:00

was, it was great for

SPEAKER_03: 35:01

me too.

SPEAKER_00: 35:02

So, so another thing that you, that you offer, which leads onto a really interesting topic, which we'll get to after this is you also deal in pre-war harmonicas, which are largely, if not exclusively Marine band harmonicas. So I've, I've got one of your pre-war Marine band harmonicas, and I've got to say, I'm absolutely thrilled with it. It just, feels like a little piece of history and we'll get on to the other topic in a minute which goes deeper into that but I love this pre-war harmonica it plays great so you know tell us about these pre-war harmonicas you offer

SPEAKER_03: 35:33

Yeah. Again, when I first discovered the online harmonica community, in addition to reading about people looking for custom combs, I also read about there was a reference for the pre-war marine band. Part of the legend is that when guys like Joe Felisco and Richard Flay developed some of the early customization techniques, Rick Epping was in that as well, they were trying to take some of the honers, from the 80s that were not very good quality and at least somehow massage them into playing somewhere close to the standard, which was the pre-wars or maybe even the Hicksville Air Harps from the 70s. But there's some mystique about the pre-wars. So I started to look for them. I at first thought they would be as rare as diamonds, but I came to find out that they really are not. On the inside box of some of the old Hohners, it would have things to the nature, language to the nature would say that, I've got one right here, it says, Hohner employs over 4,500 men, turning out upwards 25 million superior harmonicas per annum. 25 million harmonicas a year back in the 30s. And Marine Band was the number one seller. 90% of them were exported to the United States. There are plenty of pre-war marine bands out there. And so I started to buy them. I actually sat on them for a few years, kind of accumulating them, waiting for my skills to catch up with what to actually do with them once I took them apart. I just enjoy restoring them.

SPEAKER_00: 37:11

So the quality of these then is good. I think I understand there was a lot of kind of handcrafted building of these. Yeah. The quality is wonderful. It's

SPEAKER_03: 37:20

softer brass. I'm not a metallurgist, so I can't tell you what it is. Yeah, the quality is excellent. They do have a distinct tone. It's very... I personally have developed a very strong reverence for the whole process of doing them. First of all, when you take them apart, you can do a little forensic analysis and get an idea of what type of music was played on it, depending upon which reeds are tarnished instead and so on. And then oftentimes there are fingerprints on the replays from the man or maybe woman who assembled this thing, you know, 90 years ago. I'm the first person on the planet. It's actually saying the inside of that harmonica since the day it was made. And so there's a certain amount of respect for the guy who built it, you know?

SPEAKER_00: 38:12

Well, I feel exactly the same about the, you know, the one I've got and that, that sense of reverence is it really is. It's really there, isn't it? Yeah. So what do you do to them? Do you, you know, the replates are the same right and the covers and the periwood combs you kind of restore them so that they don't swell and things is that so you basically that it is all the same parts apart from the comb that you you will kind of coat in things

SPEAKER_03: 38:33

right yeah big difference is i replaced the nails with screws yeah again it's very market driven i do whatever the customer wants i probably have 150 to 200 pre-war sitting here in my shop they're just waiting for someone to give me instructions what to do with them

SPEAKER_00: 38:48

so what about the reeds are they generally all all in tune? All of the ones you sell, or do you replace some of them? No, they're never in tune.

SPEAKER_03: 38:56

I got a little secret for you. I probably shouldn't say this, but I've never... I've built thousands of harps, not just the pre-wars. I've never seen a harmonica straight from the factory that's in perfect tune. It's a unicorn. It doesn't exist. They might be close. But do you have to change the reeds, is the question. No. If I do have to change the reeds in a pre-war, then I'll put another pre-war reed in there to keep it period authentic.

SPEAKER_00: 39:21

Right,

SPEAKER_03: 39:21

yeah. But I have enough pre-wars in stock that if I find one that's a dud, I don't use it. I'll get so far into the process. And I realized it's not going to do anything. And I just put it aside and maybe use it for parts or whatever. When I first started buying pre-wars, I made the mistake of, like I said, I thought they were very rare. So I bought some real garbage. But since then, I've become very selective. And I've kind of taken the pick of the litter out of each time I buy pre-wars. And I have a personal collection of, I would say, virtually brand new pre-wars. Every key, brand new, never been played. It was in somebody's sock drawer for 50 years, and when they died, the estate sold it, and I got it. But yeah, so they all need to be tuned. And I don't do a ton of reed work. to the pre-wars. There's a school of thought that if you start embossing the reed slots, it changes the tone of the instrument. So if what somebody is looking for is the period authentic tone, then it's really a restoration process and not a customization process.

SPEAKER_00: 40:25

So we'll move on now then to talk about another instrument amazing thing you've got available through your company, your website, which I suspect might be connected to the pre-war harmonicas. So you hold the Sonny Terry estate of harmonicas, which I'm sure many people are aware of. So yeah, tell us how this came about. Adam Gusso

SPEAKER_03: 40:46

put up a video, I don't know, five or six years ago, where he had been asked to appraise some of Sonny's personal harmonicas. And I'm a a frequenter of his website, modernbluesharmonica.com. And I have a relationship with Adam. And after he put the video up, I don't know what prompted me to do so, but I sent him an email and I said, at the risk of seeming presumptuous, if you need some help with these harmonicas, doing whatever, I'm available. And to my surprise, his response was, he said, I am so happy that you emailed me because I was going to reach out And you're 100% correct that my reputation with the pre-war is what prompted that. And so he introduced me to Dolores Boyd, who was the owner of the estate. She is Sonny's niece by marriage. So Sonny's wife was Emma, and Emma is Dolores's aunt. Dolores is just an absolutely fabulous lady. She is a retired federal magistrate. She got a law degree in 1972 from the University of Virginia. And shortly thereafter, she started helping Sonny manage some of his financial affairs with the royalties and so on and so forth. But in our first conversation, she and Adam... had conversed and they thought that I would be a good fit because they both thought that I could disassemble these estate harmonicas and fix them and improve the value. And I assured her that that would be the last thing that I would do, that these harmonicas are valuable because the last person to play them was Sonny Terry. And that if I was to to take them apart, clean them, fix them, that would ruin the value. And so she asked me if I wanted to buy the estate. And my answer was that, no, that would put us in an adversarial relationship because I would be compelled to offer her the least amount of money that I could offer. And I said, how would you feel if I paid you$50,000 for the estate? And then I went up selling the items for a million dollars. And she said, well, I wouldn't feel too good. I said, I wouldn't either. I wouldn't want to become known as the guy who fleeced the Sonny Terry estates. I said, the only way this will work is if I'll enter into an agreement with you and I'll act as your agent. So the estate owns all the harmonicas and all the other items that were left behind, and I'd simply act as an agent. I was already connected to the harmonica world. I had a pretty good reputation of being an honest businessman. I had connections with people who had connections to Sonny. I've arranged for a number of harmonicas to be gifted to various artists who either teach Sonny's style of play, like probably your friend Ben Hewlett in England. I know you interviewed Tom Ball. I visited him in his home. And gifted him a harmonica. I helped Dolores to arrange an exhibit in the Harmonica Museum in Trossingen. I had a relationship with Martin Hafner of the museum. And so we kind of paved the way for some of that stuff. So that's where we are.

SPEAKER_00: 44:16

So it's amazing. So people can buy via you, as you say, you're acting on behalf of the estate, a harmonica owned and played by Sonny Terry. It's a pretty amazing piece of harmonica history. We're talking about that, how we revere the pre-war harmonicas. These must be extra special.

SPEAKER_03: 44:32

They are. And something that I didn't expect is that it's not purely a transactional situation where somebody visits my website and buys an estate harmonica. People feel compelled to tell me of their experience, how they met Sonny or how... First time they saw Sonny was what inspired them to take up the instrument. So there's, I've gotten a lot of backstories that are just, you know, very touching. I got a lot more than I bargained for, you

SPEAKER_00: 45:02

know. And you usually, are they in sort of presentation case and things or do people play them to buy them to play them or is it more the kind of, you know, it's put on the wall and things?

SPEAKER_03: 45:11

I would say that when you buy one, I put them into a shadow box display case and the magnets are, held in place with magnets, and the display case has a hinged opening, so you can just open it up and pluck it off of the magnets. So if you want to play it, you can. If you want to hold it and show it to people, you can. It's not like it's locked behind bars and you can't get at it. So that was intentional. The shadow box display cases was my idea because I thought that, you know, Guys would buy these things, they would have the best of intention, but they may never get around to it, and it would just become another junky old harp in their drawer someplace. Yeah, exactly, yeah. So just a simple little display case, I think, has made them more attractive for them to buy, but also I think it's maybe safeguarded the instrument. And I guess you send a sort of certificate of authenticity. Yep, the certificate comes from the estate. The estate has boxes of black and white photos that were given out when Brownie and Sonny would perform. So I throw one of those in.

SPEAKER_00: 46:18

So you say you haven't changed them. So have you tuned them or anything like that so they are more playable? So you haven't really touched them at all, yeah? Oh, no. Only

SPEAKER_03: 46:25

one time did I ever do anything like that. And at the Spa Convention, I organized a Sonny Terry tribute performance. I did take apart or just take the covers off of some of the... You know, the estate harmonicas, some of them... have been used very extensively. And some of them are like new because, you know, when he died, they just hadn't been used that much. So I took some of the cleaner ones and, you know, kind of spruced them up a little bit and put them back in tune and made them available to the artist who helped present the Sonny Terry tribute, that if they wanted to play on one of his harmonicas, they could. And several of them did. That whole performance is up on my website. It's about an hour long. And we kind of threw it together at the last minute, but it really came off nicely.

SPEAKER_00: 47:18

Yeah, I'll put a link onto that. So this was at SPAR 2016, yeah? Joe Fliska played, Mad Cat played, Grant Daly played. Right.

SPEAKER_02: 47:33

Yeah, so,

SPEAKER_00: 47:47

yeah, great. So some of those played the actual harmonicas too, yeah? Yeah. Some of them did. Not all of them, but some of them did. So numbers wise, I mean, you know, how many did you get roughly in the first place to be able to pass on to sell? I think that we've sold probably

SPEAKER_03: 48:04

80. And I think I have about 40 or so listed on my website right now. Yeah. And there's more. There's more. I'll have some more coming

SPEAKER_00: 48:14

soon. Yeah, and so, I mean, like you say, you haven't really taken them apart and done too much with them. Oh, no, not at all. What kind of shape are Sonny's harmonicas in? You know, he obviously had a great big sound, great amazing tone on that four-draw, especially, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 48:33

Cool, man, cool.

SPEAKER_00: 48:44

Can you see, you know, are they quite battered or, you know, can you have any evidence? Oh,

SPEAKER_03: 48:49

yeah. Oh, yeah. As they say down south here in the United States, they've been rode hard and hung up wet. It's obvious to me that when Sonny found a harp that he liked, he just played it to death. Yeah. And telltale signs are, of course, the covers are tarnished from the oils in his hands and from his lips. The covers are crushed completely. from his hands you know he played i think on a vocal mic most often and the backs of the combs are scratched up from rubbing against the grill i mean these you know ironically when you look at the pre-war that i that i purchased the pre-wars that would be worth the least because of the poor condition are really the most valuable yeah of the sunny terry hearts because they have the the most evidence of, of his play. Yeah. There's dried up saliva inside the combs. I mean, these things are, if you were looking at a, at a used tarp, you know, if you went by a, a flea market or a pawn shop and you saw this used tarp, you would say pass. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 49:53

I love the, like the fact that you've got the saliva still in there. So then the DNA of Sonny Terry is still there. That's right. If you want to clone them, go after it, you know, it's

SPEAKER_03: 50:01

there because there's plenty of it in there and not in all of them. And so honestly, the, grading system that I've given to them, it's a little bit arbitrary, but the more worn out, the more obvious signs of use, the more valuable they are. So I charge a little more for them. And I've had a few that they look like just any other harp, like it's never been played, but they're certainly certified as being part of his estate. But those are a little less expensive. And I have had a couple of people, I've had one guy who asked me to customize a couple of his harps. And of course, I used some of the ones that were essentially brand new. And I had one guy in Russia who bought one that he wanted to customize it himself. So he bought one that was essentially a new harmonica, but it was certified a part of sonny's uh estate you know but uh yeah

SPEAKER_00: 50:50

and you have no idea you know whether he uses any particular ones on certain recordings or any tours anything like that you don't have that information nope not at all that's just left to your

SPEAKER_03: 50:58

imagination i mean you know if you're if you're holding a harmonic and a specific key and you're listening to one of his recordings if you want to imagine that you're listening to the harmonica that you're playing that that's your business but that's part of the mystique nobody's saying he's not You can't prove otherwise, but nobody can make those claims, you know. So

SPEAKER_00: 51:34

that's amazing. So they're available to purchase, I say, so you're acting on behalf of the estate. So they're available to purchase via your website. People can check that out. And of course, the links will be on to the podcast page. But you don't just sell harmonicas of Sonny Terry's, right? So you've got other things. You've got concert posters and you've got contracts even and stuff like this. Yeah, other stuff from his estate, yeah. Right. Well, Sonny's wife,

SPEAKER_03: 51:57

Emma, I would have to describe her as the consummate group because she traveled the world with him. She collected everything. And so I have performance posters from all over the world. I have original signed contracts, performance contracts. Now, of course, Sonny couldn't read or write. So if there's a signature on there that has his name and it's probably Emma signed it, but Brownie certainly was literate. So his signatures are original and authentic. What else do I have? I have a lot of... vinyl LPs and 45s that are still wrapped in plastic. I have two of those shirts that he wore that look like surgical gowns or barber shirts with the pockets sewn on the outside for putting all those harmonicas. And those shirts are featured on a lot of the different covers, the artwork for his albums. I have a couple of t-shirts. I have a couple of cases that he used to carry his harmonicas around, one of which has stickers all over it like a steampunk chest, you know. But yeah, I have a lot of other memorabilia, which is only very recently gone up on my website. So if anybody's listening and they've never seen this before, it's because they've been recent additions to my website.

SPEAKER_00: 53:14

yeah incredible collection and be able to buy that memorabilia as you say in many cases as one of the you know the kind of i don't know five or so real old-time great harmonica players that absolutely everybody who plays harmonica says you know is aware of and has listened and practiced along to so right and he toured

SPEAKER_03: 53:29

so extensively he and he he he toured the college campuses in the united states and you know in in the in the 70s and even into i guess early 80s before he passed away and so many people saw him live And he'll tell you stories about how he and Brownie didn't get along with that sort of thing, you know?

SPEAKER_00: 53:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 53:49

It's kind of comical, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 53:50

Yeah, absolutely. So amazing. Yeah. So people can check out the website. So I usually do a kind of gear section at the end. So I'll just do that very briefly here. Obviously the focus has been on, on sort of blue moon prox. What harmonica do you play yourself? I'm trusting it's a blue moon harmonica. I eat my own cooking. I

SPEAKER_03: 54:08

play pretty much a little bit of everything. I have, marine bands i have special 20s i have golden melodies i play manjis i have sidle harmonicas i think sidles are great harmonicas i play those i'm not a sidle dealer could be if i wanted to be but i'm not

SPEAKER_00: 54:26

you like to try out you like to try out the products you're making right and see you know how they're all playing and stuff obviously makes sense oh

SPEAKER_03: 54:32

yeah yeah i eat my own cooking for sure

SPEAKER_00: 54:34

yeah so you're not going to say that you've got any favorites then like you said earlier on it's down to personal taste a lot of it

SPEAKER_03: 54:39

You know, I would say that when things come full circle, I kind of like the Marine Band the best. If you gave me a choice, I had one harmonica that I had to play,

SPEAKER_00: 54:51

that I would

SPEAKER_03: 54:52

play a Marine Band.

SPEAKER_00: 54:53

Yeah. And you do make your custom harmonicas available in different tunings, don't you? So I've talked about tunings on other episodes, so we're familiar with that. But I mean, just briefly, you know, any favorite custom tunings of your own?

SPEAKER_03: 55:07

No, I mean, I do play some country-tuned harps or minor-tuned harps, natural minor. I just do what my customers want. You know, 99%, 98% of the harmonicas I sell are standard Richter-tuned harps. I only sell 10-hole diatonics. I don't even mess with the 12-hole or the 14-hole or anything like that. I don't make anything for chromatics, I've been asked. I'm busy enough as it is just catering to this very narrow niche of 10-hole diatonics that I just... don't have the time for anything else. But my website is entirely menu-driven, and so there's options for natural minor, harmonic minor, country tune, Patty Richter, whatever you want. But if somebody... emails me or calls me and wants some sort of a specialized tuning then you know i'll do it for them it's just not difficult

SPEAKER_00: 55:56

yeah absolutely you know so yeah people definitely come along and check out your website and the great products you have and i can definitely vouch for you that you're a great guy to deal with you know that's got stuff from you in the past and you know as you say there you're not sort of doing this to make a quick book you know you definitely care about the customer that really comes through and you know it shows

SPEAKER_03: 56:16

well i will tell you that you know when i first started the business i was interested in starting some little business. Everybody wants to make a couple extra dollars here and there. But as the business has evolved, it's become a passion. And I like to think that I'm a pretty good businessman. I don't know if that's true or not. But to me, it's all about the relationship. You know, you can go down to a music store and you can buy a harmonic and it's purely transactional. You know, the guy behind the counter may not know anything about harmonicas and so they can't answer your question. And you may never see that person again. You may never buy from that store again. But I... Being a harmonica player myself, ever since the first day I stuck one of these things in my mouth, I was captivated by the tone and just what it does to you. you become a prisoner of it in a very good way. I know you know what I'm talking about, and anybody who's listening to this probably knows that too. It just does something to you, and it makes us all kindred spirits. And I know when I first discovered the online harmonica community, I had been purely a golden melody player for 35 years. And so when I started to... I got what they call gear acquisition syndrome. I started buying harmonicas and CDs and videos and books and amplifiers and microphones. And I just went down that rabbit hole. I went through the whole process of trying to figure out what I liked. And so when people come to me and they have questions or they want advice, I know where they're at because I was there and I try to be helpful and I try to develop a relationship with people because I found something out that, you know, when somebody buys a harmonica from you. You know, these things come in different keys. And if they like it, then, you know, they might want to come back and get another one. And so, you know, it inclines you to be nice to people and to treat them with the same courtesy and respect that you want to be treated with when you're the customer. And so it's not rocket science, you know, and generally I'm a nice guy and that's kind of reflection of my business, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 58:22

So thanks so much for joining me today, Tom Halchak. It's been a pleasure, Neil. Thank you. Once again, thanks to Zydle for sponsoring the podcast. Be sure to check out their great range of harmonicas and products at www.zydle1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zydle Harmonicas. Thanks to Tom for joining me today. What a great company he's built up and a tasty range of products available at Blue Moon Harmonicas. And on top of that, he's a thoroughly nice guy. Thanks to Robert Sawyer for his latest donation to the podcast. And thanks to you all for listening. Let's play out with a song from Sonny Terry, this one's Sonny's Jump. Who knows, perhaps he recorded this one on one of the harps still available to purchase via the Blue Moon website.

UNKNOWN: 59:09

MUSIC

SPEAKER_02: 59:44

Bye.