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Tales from a Train Hoppin' Accordion Player - Part I

"Monster Harmonica Workbench" with Kinya Pollard

by Kinya Pollard

I first met this world traveler in 1999 at a David Barrett Harmonica Masterclass Legends of the Blues Harmonica event. While a couple hundred attendees rushed from the "booth area" into the Ballroom to see the likes of Jerry Portnoy and Magic Dick, I took full advantage of this break, and spent mono y mono time with internationally renowned harmonica (and accordion) craftsman, Rick Epping.

For many professional harmonica players who play HOHNER Harmonicas, Rick was considered the progenitor of the quality improvement movement implemented at HOHNER.

On April 15, 2005, after 18 years with HOHNER USA, Rick Epping retired. I was fortunate enough to be able to hook up briefly with one of my "mentors" before his departure back to Ireland:

Harpsmith: Most of us can remember a decisive moment when we got sucked in (sorry for the pun) to the Harmonica. When and how did it get you?

Rick: My earliest memory was after rummaging through my brother's toy box, admiring, and then "nixing" his two harmonicas. One of the harmonicas was a Hohner Marine Band "Lone Star Rider" Steve Laraby model. In fact, approximately ten years ago while at the Hohner factory, I found some sample cases of the Steve Laraby model that was made for a possible nostalgia reissue. Steve Laraby was a radio cowboy, and, boy that takes me back!

The second harmonica I took from my brother was a red, white and blue all plastic harmonica made by the Pro Company in New Jersey. What was interesting, about ten years ago, I actually had some dealings with this company when I designed the plastic combs (Special 20) that we use on our China produced entry-level harmonicas, such as the Pocket Pal and Blues Band.

I'm not certain if you were aware of this, but the one-piece injection molding included the reeds as well as the reed plates! Engineering and building a completely tuned "all plastic" harmonica out of the mold was quite an achievement.

Kinya: I heard you perform Celtic music with Brendan Powers. Are you drawn to that type of music more than others?

Rick: Well, the first instrument that I had formal lessons was the violin when I was seven… piano when I was eight. My father was an accomplished classical pianist, who came from Germany in 1923 and played in radio jazz bands. I have a great photo of him from 1926 when he played with Charles Emberg and the Atlantic Stompers. So I grew up in the house with jazz and a lot of classical music from the Romantic Period (Chopin, Beethoven, and Brahms). We had this three quarter grand piano in the house that I use to lie under. There would be this amazing waterfall of music that would come down on me and lull me to sleep. I would then wake up and mess with the pedals (laugh). Music was always encouraged in the house. So in the early 60's, when I was eleven, I became interested in folk music and decided to learn the Banjo, Ukulele, and Guitar. When I was nineteen I got my first Concertina.

Instruments with reeds have always been intriguing to me … with the Harmonica, it was small, intricate and that appealed to me.

Harpsmith: When I was four, I knew I had a knack for tinkering. How old were you when you started taking things apart?

Rick: When I was ten years old, I successfully took apart and reassembled one of my Dad's old pocket watches. My Dad was a cabinet maker by trade, so I began cleaning up the saw dust around the shop, then all through my teenage years I would do more and more with the hand tools. I took my first Harmonica apart when I was fifteen years old.

Harpsmith: So how did that segue into the Hohner gig?

Rick: All through my teenage years I worked on Harmonicas, and began working on Accordions and Concertinas as well. I continued to pick up knowledge and skills throughout the years.

[At this stage of our conversation, maybe it was in remembrance of these earlier years, but Rick became nostalgic and regaled me-and now, you readers-with stories of his past, but informative, adventures.]

I went to Ireland for the first time in 1969, and I fell in love with it. I swore I would return. So in 1973 I lived there for almost eight years, before relocating to the San Francisco Bay for a couple of years.

Harpsmith: I didn't know that you lived in my neck of the woods.

Rick: During the late 60's, I used to hitch hike from Los Angeles up to the Bay Area for the old time folk and Irish music. Coming home, I would go to the Oakland train yard around 6:00 p.m. and wait for the flat bed freight trains to slow down near the wooden trestle. At this slow speed I was able to hop on these flatbed cars. There was a well underneath the middle of these flatbed cars, and you could get down there. It was a wonderful overnight trip down to L.A., and you could see parts of the country where there weren't even any roads. It was only the train going through, so it was kind of a neat mode of transportation. I used to go up for about a weekend, a week, or so at a time.

Harpsmith: Yikes, you were like a musical Hobo.

Rick: (Laughs) You know, when you're young you can do anything, especially in those days, in the '60s. There was this marvelous, in spite of all the horrible things happening in the world, there was this marvelous optimism. At least for us Californians who opted for what one could do, and we did it. But, ah, so, ah…

Harpsmith: So from train hopping to HOHNER, how did that figure in?

Rick: Yeah, so, anyway. I had spent a couple of years in San Francisco, and then-it was a really marvelous place to live, but wasn't really progressing-so I had some friends in New York City. Kenny Cosack, this fiddle player, and Alan Feldmen, a banjo player, that I played some old time music with, and we decided to try to get a little group going. So we decided to move to New York. While there, Alan saw a sign for the Accordion company, and asked them if they needed a good tuner. And they said, "Sure.. So I actually had a job lined up for me when I moved to New York. By that time I had gotten my skills up to a point that they didn't sack me. (Laughs) They kept me on.

There were a couple of old Italian Accordion technicians that I ended up working with and learning from, who really knew their stuff. They came from a small town in Italy, which is the center of Accordion making, and had been working at it for about 40 years. I learned an awful lot from them until 1984, when we decided to move back to Ireland and start a little business of our own.

We thought it would be a good place. Our daughter was reaching school age, so we thought it would be good together. So we thought we would start her off at school there, and moved back to Ireland in '84. We had a little Accordion business for a few years, and then one day got a call from HOHNER. HOHNER said that their Accordion fellow, the fellow who ran their Accordion department, was retiring. They had heard from my former boss in New York where I was, and invited me to come out. So I said I'd try it for a month, see if we get on. And we did.

I wasn't long here before they asked if I'd spend a couple days a week working in Harmonicas as well. They knew that I played, so it kind of progressed from there. I've managed the Accordion department here for the past 18 years, but an awful lot of my work was actually with Harmonicas and product development, and quality control. I did an awful lot of traveling back and forth to Germany and China a couple times a year to work on new projects and quality control, pass inspections. It has been a great educational experience.

Harpsmith: Yeah! Who would've known. How does one prepare for that? Well, I mean you have to do some train-hopping, you have to be a 'tinkerer' as a kid, you have to work on Accordions…God!

Rick: It's, it's been a great trip.


Over the years my respect and admiration of Rick Epping and his considerable musical and technical knowledge has grown immensely. What started out as an interview focusing on technical aspects of the Harmonica became, in some respects, a story of his life. It is my belief that if this part of the interview was overlooked or left out, it would take away from the overall interview with Rick Epping.

Next issue will continue with Rick's technical work at HOHNER USA, and a few more stories. I hope you are enjoying the trip too.

Kinya Pollard
The Harpsmith

Special thanks to Barbara, Mrs. Harpsmith for her transcription and editing skills.