It is not such a well known fact that as well as harmonicas, Douglas also made harpsichords and repaired guitars. He gave a recital on BBC radio in the 1970s where he had made both the harmonica and the harpsichord played by the accompanist.

The harmonica played at the recital was Douglas's first 'legendary' (Pat Missin's adjective!) and unique instrument - made to his own specification. It is based around a set of Hohner long-slot reedplates, the comb is stainless steel with carefully shaped 'Isopon' car body filler slot inserts (lead free) - as described in Douglas's book 'Make Your Harmonica Work Better'. He played it exclusively for over 20 years and after the initial work, did very little to it at all.

To quote the Times obituary "[Douglas] Tate’s collaboration with Bobbie Giordano in the US led to his last design, the Renaissance, possibly the best in the world, but the development never stopped and he was still improving the design when he was found to be suffering from a brain tumour in March [2005]. It was then that the partnership with the new young management team from the oldest harmonica company in the world, C. A. Seydel Söhne, was forged to hand on and continue the development and production of the Renaissance."

Click here to see Seydel's Renaissance pages.

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© Barbara Tate 2006