Author Topic: Hello from Boston  (Read 599 times)

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Offline jskrones

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Hello from Boston
« on: March 23, 2022, 08:15:24 PM »
Hello all! I'm Jonathan, and very excited to join you here. I have to admit I'm just an amateur chromatic player. I have a three year-old who likes taking my old Kratt Chromatic out of its box on my desk and blowing into it. He gets distracted and just ends up playing with the box, which gives me time to really wish it were in better condition. So I joined SlideMeister to learn from you all about maintenance and repair techniques, with the hope of learning to be a better player in the end.

Offline SlideMeister

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2022, 09:48:29 PM »
Welcome Jonathan!
Yeah, you can do all that stuff here. :)

Age

Offline beads

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2022, 10:07:29 PM »
Hi Jonathan. Welcome aboard. The vast majority of us are amateurs, so you will fit right in. There are professionals, and those who could be professionals. They are kind enough to share their knowledge. Us amateurs don't mind sharing our thimble full of knowledge either! Mostly we just enjoy the chromatic.
Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Troost Bid voor ons.

Offline Okietune

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2022, 11:23:48 PM »
Welcome to the forum! Hope you are inspired to advance in playing your chromatic!

Offline Keith

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2022, 04:22:57 AM »
Welcome aboard. :)

Offline brorat

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2022, 04:52:47 AM »
Glad you’re here Jonathan. Soon you’ll begin to gather the needed knowledge to help you maintain your chromatic.
And… it’s my guess …you’ll soon be tempted to step into the warm waters of acquiring another one!!
“Just here to harp on chromatics!”

Offline Splashdown

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2022, 09:27:46 AM »
Welcome!
"When you're happy, you listen to the music. When you're sad, you understand the lyrics."
-- George Jones

Offline John Broecker

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2022, 09:53:16 AM »
Hello, Johnathan. Welcome to SlideMeister.
You have many new friends here.

Here's a short history of the Wilhelm Kratt
companies. Wilhelm, (1892-1983) was born in
Trossingen, Germany, the home of the Hohner,
Weiss and Koch
harmonica companies.

He worked for Hohner from age 12-18, then visited
the USA. He worked as a machinist-foreman for
inventor Thomas Edison, staying at his Aunt
Christine's
home in Orange, New Jersey, and
served customers at his aunt's restaurant, The
Old Homestead
.

Wilhelm returned to Trossingen in 1920, & founded
the National Harmonica Company in Trossingen.
Hohner bought his company in 1924.

Wilhelm returned to the USA, and in 1940, he founded
the Wm. Kratt Company in Union, New Jersey. The Kratt
Co. made at least 4 different slide chromatic models, and
diatonic harmonicas, such as the "Arist-o-Kratt" diatonics.

The slide harps included: "Mello-Chromatic" (10 mouthpiece
holes); "Ultra-Monica" (12 holes); "Super 40" (10 holes);
and "Wm. Kratt Co." (10 holes).

Wilhelm retired from the company circa 1975, and his son,
Wilhelm, Jr., ran the company to 2001, when it was sold to the
McNamara family of Kenilworth, New Jersey. The McNamaras
made Kratt "Master Tone" pitch pipes up to at least 2008. The
McNamaras are still in business today.

Wilhelm, Sr.'s brother, Christian (1899-?) also had a harmonica
company in the USA: Chris Kratt.

Best Regards, Stay Healthy.

John Broecker, Sussex, Wisconsin, USA
« Last Edit: March 24, 2022, 03:51:12 PM by John Broecker »
Bob Uecker, Catcher, Announcer, USA Baseball: "The best way to catch a knuckleball is to wait for it to stop rolling on the ground, then pick it up."

Online Gnarly He Man

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #8 on: March 24, 2022, 11:12:06 AM »
Welcome.
This place has much to offer— repair and maintenance tips, the sharing of performance clips, insights into music theory, historical information (thanks John!), and, as you have discovered, camaraderie.

Offline Edward Brock

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #9 on: March 24, 2022, 09:48:55 PM »
Train'em young Jonathen.
Welcome aboard.

Offline Grizzly

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #10 on: March 24, 2022, 11:04:00 PM »
John: "The McNamaras made Kratt "Master Tone" pitch pipes up to at least 2008.

(Source: American Way Marketing) "The Wm. Kratt Company still remains the only company in America producing these quality pitch instruments. They create several hundred thousand pitch pipes each year and estimate sales of about three million over the past 80 years.

"Each pipe is literally hand-crafted and individually tuned by workers, some of whom have been working for the Kratt Company over 30 years." https://americanwaymktg.com/

While Wm. Kratt does make pitch pipes for instruments like guitar (6 pipes) and violin (4 pipes), they're probably known most for their MASTER-KEY CHROMATIC PITCH INSTRUMENT, with 13 "harmonica" reeds in a circle from C to C or F to F, the mainstay of many choral directors and singers (at least until tuning apps installed on iPhones). Essentially, they're a round harmonica from Middle C upwards an octave, and not that hard to play simple tunes on. Even their "pipes" rely on reeds for pitch.

Tom
« Last Edit: March 24, 2022, 11:07:13 PM by Grizzly »
working on my second 10,000!

Offline John Broecker

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #11 on: March 25, 2022, 03:52:52 AM »
Hello, Grizzly.

Thanks for your update on the Kratt pitch pipes.

One source in my research of the Wm. Kratt
companies is the McNamara family, who were
initially hired by the Kratt company to make
the plastic shells of what they called Master
Tone pitch pipes. Later, the name was changed
to Master Key.

In 2001, the Kratt company was sold to the
McNamara family.

The book, Harmonica Makers of Germany & Austria,
by Lars Lindenmuller and Martin Haffner, (2003),
published by the Deutsches Harmonika Museum
of Trossingen, Germany, is the other source for the
information on the Wm. Kratt company.

Best Regards, Stay Healthy

JB
« Last Edit: March 25, 2022, 03:58:29 AM by John Broecker »
Bob Uecker, Catcher, Announcer, USA Baseball: "The best way to catch a knuckleball is to wait for it to stop rolling on the ground, then pick it up."

Offline Vale

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Re: Hello from Boston
« Reply #12 on: March 25, 2022, 09:54:16 AM »
Welcome to the Forum, Jonathan! :)
Have a chromatic day!
Vale