Cyclop mouth organ I spied with my little eye an interestingly monikered mouth organ advertised in Toowoomba 1923 (below right) - the “easy blowing” Cyclop. Left: Cyclop Accordion advertisement (Catholic Press Sydney 1911) Right: ‘Easy blowing Cyclop Mouth Organs (Toowoomba Chronicle 1923) Definitely not an Australian brand name mouth organ, but available down under perhaps … Continue reading One Eyed
My latest acquisition. The one after the 266 (I said move over once - and a half). However more likely after the 265 as the 266 was originally the 264 1/2. Confused welcome to the world of harmonica identification. The 48 Chord Harmonica (also known as the Akkorda) was manufactured nearly ten years later than … Continue reading No. 267
Yeah! I know! After finding the Holy Grail (Boomerang DeLuxe) that was meant to be my final purchase. As with any addiction it ain’t easy to give up. This temptation was too much. A fair lump of a harmonica for a price less than a new diatonic was offered with this Hohner Bass Chromatica No. … Continue reading Bassballs
Cruisin’ in third lookin for birdCruisin’ in third lookin for birdHe’ll drive you up the wall or any oher place. Greedy’s Looking For Bird riffs. I heard it on the car radio while returning from our regular Monday morning jaunt to ‘Invy’ (Inverloch) when my harmonica antenna received strong vibrations. The announcer had an avian … Continue reading Bird Watching or Speedy Greedy
“An extensive tie-up has been arranged with J. Albert and Son on a mutual exploitation idea to boost Boomerang mouth organs and Paramount pictures. These novelties can be obtained from the exchange.” (Everyones Vol.10 No.473 (13 March 1929) These novelties don’t appear to be carved from wood, but more likely a cardboard cut out. Neil … Continue reading Paramount Boomerang
Maxwell Renown Braybrook (22 June 1920 - 12 November 2004) We first come across Maxwell as a thirteen year old lad from Newcastle with his regular contributions to the local paper’s Smile Exchange. Japanese Submarine shelled Newcastle around 2:30 am Tuesday 9 June 1942. (No casualties) He makes a return to the paper not long … Continue reading Ballad of Braybrook
Latest acquisition to the Crackajack stable is a 1925 Mouth Organ Cover (envelope). Recently on sale primarily for philatelists as the King George stamp has a white flaw on top of the large number one in the right value shield. Thankfully a reduced offer was accepted by the seller as I wasn’t overly interested at … Continue reading Doctor Doctor (Give me the News)
Waldo Burgoyne (December 18, 1891 - June 5, 1960) photo courtesy of Ray Grieve. Waldo was indeed a magnificent mouth organ exponent racking up a life time of trophies and achievements. He was runner up to the legendary P C Spouse in the Australian Championships at South Street Ballarat in 1927. Later he would go … Continue reading Waldo the Magnificent
From my collection In 1907 Koch of Germany manufactured the Aussie branded The Kangaroo, however somewhere in time this model hopped over to Switzerland to be manufactured - perhaps during or just after the Great War when Germany was a bit on the nose. This wasn’t the first Kangaroo down under. The Kangaroo Chalmer (1s … Continue reading The Harmonica Hop
This certainly is Ollie! The lot of the session musician - as told to Harmonica Riff Raff by Steve Williams……. In 1993 I got a call from Doug at Toybox, a little studio in Northcote, for a harmonica session. He said it was a weird one. The artist, a Dutch chimney sweep called Bill Cook … Continue reading Harley & Harp
Harmonica Riff Raff 