Big Boys Hobbies

I can't believe I found one of these

Call Me V

Call Me V

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
253
Location
Montana
Studying for finals has been creating brain cramps, so I decided to take a break on a really REALLY nice evening and do a short hunt at an old park where I've dug some wheaties. The first target... a 1949D wheatie 6 inches down. I also got a 1950D wheatie. Still no silver from this park, but I figure it's only a matter of time and effort.

However, I got a zinc penny signal (20-21 on my NOX) several inches down and dug... and dug... and dug, and just when I was thinking I was going after a trash piece of metal (I'd dug up a big nail with the same signal five minutes before), this came out of the ground.

Had I not watched some Youtube videos I would not have any idea what it was. But I knew that I'd just dug up a harmonica reed... my very first. I'm SOOOO excited!

My one question is, where is the rest of the harmonica?
 

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Those sure make the nox scream. I just dug one a couple days ago to . Congratulations on your first one. HH
 
Call Me V said:
My one question is, where is the rest of the harmonica?
Click to expand...

Good question. Harmonica reeds get replaced just like guitar strings or a wooden reed on a woodwind instrument. Back when people carried and played harmonicas a lot it was a common thing to do. Today, not so much. That's why people are always finding harmonica reeds and no harmonica.
 
ToySoldier said:
Good question. Harmonica reeds get replaced just like guitar strings or a wooden reed on a woodwind instrument. Back when people carried and played harmonicas a lot it was a common thing to do. Today, not so much. That's why people are always finding harmonica reeds and no harmonica.
Click to expand...


That explains a lot. Thank you!!
 
I can only recall 1 post where a full harmonica was dug but thousands of posts with only 1-2 reeds found.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nice find. I've dug many if those in old sites, but digging it without hitting it with your shovel is commendable!! I always bust those with my bad shovel work.
 
Thats kinda interesting, I water hunt a lot and have found many harmonica reeds in the water. I guess that makes sense if people replace them back in the day then you find just the reeds all the time. Cool find.
 
Nice job not only finding one intact, but getting it to the surface in one piece, too! I find harmonica reeds at almost every old (late 1800s/early 1900s) home site I've detected, but they're always in pieces. I managed to find one whole reed once, but it was horribly bent up. A lot of my former home permissions are just farm fields now, so I imagine the reeds were getting churned up by several decades of plowing!
 
V a big congrats on your first harmonica reed. I usually find them when I think I'm digging a deep Ihp. with my Equinox. They are IMO a really cool find. It reminds of a time when people had to make their own music. Good luck. Mark
 
Congrats on the harmonica reed! I always enjoys finding those because they make me think there might be some old coins nearby.:)
 
nice! I have a few. I cant help but think ..... everyone must have carried a harmonica back in them days! I find them in fields, woods, creek bed, old house foundations. I'm betting you'd be luck to find one in a million guys carrying them now days.
 
markinswpa said:
V...It reminds of a time when people had to make their own music. ...
Click to expand...

It's hard to overemphasize how different that world was to ours. As late as the 1870s if you wanted to hear music, then you had to play it yourself or go listen to somebody that knew how. Or, you lived in a world without it.

People outside of cities would be far more aware of traditional music than anything resembling the popular music being played in the big cities. They might have been taught about Mozart in school, but never heard anything he wrote properly performed.

Small cities and towns had volunteer marching bands to provide fanfare music at important events.

You'd bust your butt at manual labor all week and look forward to hearing the band at the dance that weekend.

Popular songs were measured by sheet music sales. When a popular musical, opera or symphony was playing in New York City or London people would buy the sheet music so they could attempt to play and hear it with various levels of success. Parlor pianos and piano lessons were popular for a reason.

So, being able to work out the melody of a familiar tune on a harmonica would have been a joy.
 
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